On My Journey Home
by Enthusiastic Fish
Summary: Sequel to my oneshot, Call of the Sea. Tim is a selkie, trapped on the land. This story elaborates on the foundation established in the oneshot. 16 chapters and an epilogue.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is a sequel of sorts to my oneshot _Call of the Sea_. As if I didn't have enough stories featuring selkies already. In _Call of the Sea_, we found that Tim was a selkie. This story fills in Tim's background and then extends the story still further. You don't _have_ to read _Call of the Sea_ in order to understand what's happening here, but it might help. It may seem like a death fic in the first chapter. I promise. It's not. (NOTE: This is _not_ a sequel to _Far Frae Ev'ry Strand_ in which Tim was simply descended from the selkies, and I treat the selkies slightly differently in this story than I did in that one.) Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. It's a combination of a casefile and fantasy, although I do try to make the fantasy as firmly grounded in the NCIS universe as I can.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the NCIS characters and I'm making no money off this story. You can, however, blame me for the modifications I've made to some of the selkie legends.

* * *

><p><strong>On My Journey Home<br>**by Enthusiastic Fish

**Chapter 1**

The incoming tide brought the seals upon an empty beach. Finding the secluded places was growing more difficult but they had managed to adapt to the changing world. Adapt or perish.

No one about.

A small group of the seals peeled away from the others. Their skins fell away, leaving seeming humans in their place. One of the boys instantly stalked away from the others, clearly unhappy. The adults looked at each other and then a male followed after the boy. He didn't catch up. He simply followed until the repressed anger, so common in this one, spent itself. It brought them to a small cliff, far from the others. The boy tossed a couple of rocks toward the ocean, but without anger.

"It was not your time. You are young," the male said calmly.

"I am old enough to answer a call!"

"No." It was a firm denial. Absolute certainty.

"Why? I heard it! It was a call to me!"

"You are not ready for what a call may require."

"She was young! Like me!"

"Yes."

The boy sighed. It wasn't that he was unaware of the truth, but they all had heard it, and it had been full of pain. The kind of pain they could not heal. It was hard to ignore a call and it was the first time he had been of an age to hear, understand...and answer.

"Why can we hear if we do not answer?"

"It is our nature. In older times, it was a way of increasing our numbers. Now, we return what the human race has given to us. Life."

"But we do not answer."

"We answer when help can be given; if not, it will harm more than help. It is a lesson we have learned."

The boy sat down and stared out at the ocean. The man sat beside him.

"Her pain hurt me."

"Yes."

"Why do humans feel such pain? We do not."

"We do."

"When?"

"Pray you never know. Separation from the sea is all that could cause such pain."

"But why? We look so much like them!"

"We are not humans. They feel what we never will feel. Be glad of it. Pity them for what they feel and try to ease that pain when you can...but _only_ when you can. That is what you must learn before you may answer a call."

The boy nodded reluctantly.

"You _must_ learn."

"I understand."

"Good. Come now. It will not do to be here for too long."

The boy nodded. They both got to their feet and left the cliff.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Mr. and Mrs. McGee?"

Justin and Leanna McGee quickly got to their feet. They'd been waiting for hours for news. Sarah had been taken by their neighbors to (hopefully) sleep. She had resisted, but if the worst happened, they wanted to know first and tell her later.

"Please, sit down," the doctor said. He was very grave.

Leanna took hold of Justin's hand and gripped it tightly. It was a testament to his own fear that he returned the gesture.

"What's happened to Tim?" Leanna asked.

"The car accident...did a lot of damage."

"Stop delaying," Justin said brusquely. "Just tell us."

"Your son is in a coma. He suffered massive head trauma from the impact. We had to remove his spleen. It's been touch-and-go so far...and that likely won't change in the near future. It's a miracle he's survived this long."

"What does that mean?" Leanna asked.

"I don't think your son is going to come out of the coma. Ever."

Leanna started to cry. Justin put his arms around her.

"Can we see him?" he asked, his voice rough with emotion.

"Of course. Come on back."

Together, they went back to the ICU and got their first look at their son. His face was swollen and stitched and bandaged. A ventilator kept his lungs functioning. Monitors tracked his brain waves, his heart beat. In short, he was almost beyond recognition.

They stood there, staring at him, their son who had shown so much promise.

"He'll never wake up?" Leanna whispered.

"There's always a chance," the doctor said.

"But not much of one?"

"No. I'm sorry. If there's a drastic turnaround in the next few days, his odds will dramatically improve. Otherwise..."

He didn't need to finish. Timothy McGee's parents stood in the room and looked at the wreckage of so many hopes and dreams.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_A time later..._

A seal came out of the water. In moments, a young man was standing where the seal had been. He held a gray skin in his hands. He stood awkwardly for a moment. Unsure, but he closed his eyes and felt the call again. He turned and walked down the beach. Far off, he could see a solitary figure. She was the source of the call. He felt no particular pain from her, but the call could not be denied. Perhaps she was simply crying from loneliness. One he had helped before had been wanting someone to see her and listen to her in the sunset of her life. Not pain, but a hurt of a different kind. One he did not really understand, but was learning how to address.

He walked toward the caller, stowing his skin securely before he reached her.

"Hello," he said. "May I join you?"

The woman was older than he, but she smiled and nodded.

"Why did you come?" she asked.

"You looked like you might want company," he said.

"I think I did."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Six months later..._

How did one say goodbye? Sarah didn't know. What she knew was that, for some reason, her brother was about to die and they all knew exactly when it would happen.

Tim had never come out of the coma. He couldn't even breathe on his own. The doctors had said that he was brain dead. So now they were getting ready to let the rest of him die, too. ...and she had to say goodbye to her brother who was dead already...but not completely. Not yet.

"Okay, Sarah. Come on."

Sarah walked into the hospital room...holding her mother's hand. She was trying to be grown-up about this, but coming in here was different today. It wasn't that Tim frightened her. She'd been here every day for the last six months. Tim never woke up. She wasn't afraid of seeing him anymore. She leaned over the bed, looked back at her parents and then took a breath.

"Goodbye, Tim. I love you." Then, she hugged her brother who was about to die...and watched her parents also bid him farewell.

"Sarah, it's time now," Leanna said.

"I'm going to stay."

"Are you sure, honey? You don't have to."

"Yes."

"All right."

Together, the McGee family watched as their numbers slowly dwindled from four to three...as Tim's heart finally stopped beating, his lungs stopped functioning.

...and he died.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_A time later..._

"No! Please!" he begged. "Do not leave me here alone!"

"I am sorry. You know the law. You cannot come with us, not anywhere. You must either find it again or make your way in the human world. There is no other choice."

It was not said callously, nor with any degree of accusation. Indeed, there was a feeling of pity with the words. But it was inexorable. No, he could not go with them. Even if he had been able to keep up in his human form, his presence would increase the risk of discovery.

He was to be left behind. He spun around and ran from the others, back to the place where she had betrayed him...back to that beach.

She was there, smiling as she had smiled when she had so calmly betrayed and destroyed him.

"I knew you'd come back," she said.

"Give it back to me," he pled. "Please! It is of no use to you! It is mine!"

Her smile didn't fade. If anything, it widened.

"Not anymore."

"I only came because I wanted to help you. I only stayed because I cared about you!"

"You did help me...and I'm grateful. I'll let you know if I need you again."

"Where is it? You are taking my life from me! Do you care nothing for that?"

"If you can find it, you can take it back."

He grabbed her arm roughly, desperate enough to force her. She only laughed.

"We're not alone on the beach today. If I start screaming for help, _real_ people will come."

He looked beyond her to the populated beach...and he let her go, watching hopelessly as she walked away from him. Defeated, he stumbled away in the opposite direction, into the ocean, almost too far, but then he struggled back to the shore. What could he do now? He didn't know how to drown.

Instead, he sat down on the wet sand and just stared at his home. So close and yet impossibly far from him.

He didn't move at all for hours. Not even when the rain started. Water wasn't a hazard, no matter its origin.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Two months later..._

"I don't _want_ to go on vacation!"

"Sarah, Tim wouldn't have wanted us to sit around like this."

"How do _you_ know?" she shouted. "Tim's dead! He didn't even get to tell us! He was dead in the hospital for _months_ before you finally killed him!"

Leanna knelt down in front of her raging daughter and hugged her. Almost instantly, the fury vanished and Sarah started crying.

"It's all right, dear. It's all right."

"I didn't want Tim to die!"

"Neither did I, honey. No one did. ...but we have to try living our lives, and part of that is a family trip. We're not going far, just to the beach for a few days. Okay?"

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"I know."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_A time later..._

He still sat on the beach, his knees drawn tightly to his chest. Not noticing anyone else and being noticed by no one.

Almost...

He felt the pain, a pain akin to his own. It was the pain of irrevocable loss. It momentarily drew his attention away from mourning. The urge to touch and heal that loss came over him again.

He looked to the side and saw three humans. Two adults and one female child. The pain came from all of them.

No matter. He could give them nothing. They were humans like the one who had destroyed him. He had considered trying to follow her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it...and she had threatened to destroy his skin if he came after her. That would end any chance he had of getting home again. He turned back to the sea. So close and yet so far. He was sitting close enough that the tide soaked him every time it came up the sand. He didn't care.

Then, after a time, he realized someone was looking at him. He glanced over. It was the female child. She walked close and knelt in the sand.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He looked at her and then back at the sea without answering. To his surprise, she didn't leave.

"My brother died. You look a lot like him."

"I am not him," he said, his voice rough from disuse.

"I know. We buried him. I watched him die. Where's _your_ family?"

"Family?"

"Yes. Your parents, brothers, sisters...the people who grow up with you."

The pain that came from her innocent question was like a dagger through his heart. It hurt him so much that he began to cry. Sobbing, he started to crawl forward. It had been days since he'd eaten and he had no strength left to stand.

"Dad!" she shouted. "Dad! Help!"

Her hands were on his arms, trying to keep him from crawling into the ocean. He tried to shake her away...but then, her small hands were joined by other hands. Larger hands. Stronger hands.

"What's going on, Sarah?"

"He's crying, Dad! He's sad! ...and he looks like Tim!"

"Justin...he does."

"What's your name, son?"

He stopped his pitiful struggles and looked at the three humans.

"What's your name?" the child asked.

He sniffled. "Why are you here?" he asked. "What do you want with me?"

"We want to talk to you! I'm Sarah. What's your name?"

He looked at her uncomprehendingly. "I have nothing. I do not know what you mean." The tears returned as he remembered all he'd lost.

"Did your family die?" Sarah asked.

"No. I did," he said. "Go and leave. I must be here."

"Why?"

"There is nothing else for me," he said. "I cannot help you. Go away."

"Help us? Why would you think you had to?" the woman asked. "Can _we_ help you?"

He looked around at them unbelievingly. They were humans. They did not help. They were the ones _needing_ the help.

"Is there anywhere we can take you?" the man asked.

"No. Nowhere. No. You cannot help me. Your kind could not help my kind. That is not the way of things."

The woman knelt down in front of him and looked at him with an expression he'd never seen before. He could not even put a label to it.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

Somehow, the way she spoke, the look in her eyes...they made him want to tell her. He started to cry.

"I wanted to help her and she only wanted to hurt me! And when she did, I was left alone! They had to go and I had to stay behind! I have nothing!"

"Who hurt you?"

"One of your kind," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You! Your kind! Humans! She was your kind! My kind would not hurt me like this!"

Her eyes moved away from him for a moment and then back again.

"What is your kind?"

"We who live in the sea. We who dwell in both worlds and have our place. I can never go back. She stole my skin from me! All I have is what I am...and that is nothing!"

"Leanna..."

He closed his eyes and started to sob, rocking back and forth on the sand. These humans could not help him. What he had seen in her eyes would not help him. There was no help. None. He was alone.

And then, he suddenly felt a strange sensation. The woman put her arms around him and began to rock with him...only her rocking slowed his down. She ran a calming hand over his shoulder and told him it would all be all right. How could she say such a thing? He didn't understand...but at the same time, he didn't want her to stop.

"You don't have a name?"

"I...I do not know what that is," he choked out through his tears.

"A name...something people call you. My daughter is Sarah. I am Leanna. My husband is Justin."

"Her brother?"

"He was Tim."

For a few seconds, no one spoke.

"Would you like to come with us?"

"Where?"

"To eat, for now. You look much too thin."

He looked at himself and then at them.

"But why? What use is there?"

The woman...Leanna...leaned forward and smiled at him.

"There is always some use to living. Always." She got to her feet and held out her hand. "Will you come?"

He looked at her, at Sarah, at Justin.

"Is it better than being here?" he asked.

"Yes. Much better," Leanna said.

Finally, he nodded and got to his unsteady feet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_A time later..._

He heard them talking. It wasn't usual for him to sleep like this. He felt uncomfortable in a bed, in this place. He had seen a bed. Inside. It felt wrong...strange...unnatural. The clothes they'd given him to wear. They didn't feel right. They were close and tight. They rubbed against his skin wrong. It kept him from sleeping...and the food he had eaten was strange.

All in all, it was not conducive for him to sleep. He got out of the bed and walked out of the room, looking around himself. It felt like a whole other world. He didn't like it. He wanted to go home! He walked toward the voices.

"What are you thinking, Leanna?"

"He apparently has no one, Justin! He needs someone to take care of him."

"Are you forgetting what he said about himself? What he said about _us_?"

"No. I'm not, but he's not dangerous, Justin. He's a teenager who's apparently been abandoned. That would screw a lot of people up. He doesn't even know his own name."

He walked into the room and they looked at him in surprise.

"Hello," Leanna said, smiling. "Is anything wrong?"

"I will be Tim if that is right," he said.

He instantly saw the pain on their faces. It was wrong what he'd said. He didn't understand why, but the last thing he wanted was to cause them pain.

"I am sorry," he said. "It was...I did not...want to hurt you." He backed away from them and pulled off the shirt. He threw it onto the floor and ran out of the room. He got lost for a moment in the inside space, but he found a door that led outside. He got out of the building and ran back to the beach. He didn't have any trouble finding it. It was calling to him. He could feel it inside him and he knew right where it was.

When he got to the beach, he didn't stop, but ran out into the waves.

Then, he heard a voice from behind him.

"Come back!"

He turned around as the waves crashed over him. He didn't have any trouble keeping his balance. The man was there. Justin was standing on the edge, beckoning him back.

He shook his head and stayed in the ocean.

"I am supposed to help, not hurt! I hurt you!"

Justin walked out into the ocean. He grabbed him.

"You didn't hurt us."

"I did. I felt it and I saw it. You were hurt by what I said!"

"Come out of the water."

"It is my home!"

"Come out of the water...please."

He looked at Justin and then around at the water. He wanted to be home...but there was something about Justin and Leanna that drew him to them. He let Justin pull him out of the water back onto the beach...and while he had spent his entire life never shedding a tear, every moment that he remembered his loss and felt theirs, he began to cry.

"This...This name hurts you. It hurts you to say it. Why would you use it?"

"You don't have a name."

"No! Why would I? It is a human thing."

Justin looked at him closely. "I don't think you really understand what a name is."

"I do not...it is more than a...a label. You have...names. The girl...Sarah calls you Dad. The woman...she says other words...are they names? Why are names so...painful?"

"Our son, Tim was his name. He died a couple of months ago."

"Months? What is a month?"

"Not very long ago."

He nodded. "I understand death. I have seen many die. I know that is your pain. Tim is his name? Only him? That is not what you call all brothers?"

"No. Every person has his own name. Sometimes, people will have the same name, but it's their own."

"We do not have names. We just are."

Justin took a breath and then nodded.

"Do you want to stay here?" he asked.

He looked around and sniffed loudly. "It is my home...but I cannot have it. I cannot live in the sea without my skin...and she has it. She will never give it back. She is gone forever. I am trapped here...alone."

"You don't have to be."

"Yes, I do. The others cannot...cannot have me with them without my skin."

Another deep breath. "Why don't you come with us? For a while. You can try it out. If you don't like it, you can come back here or we can take you somewhere else."

"Come with you? Where?"

"Back to our home. You could stay with us."

"Why would you do this? You are human."

"So are you."

"No! No, I am not. I am not a _human_!" He pulled back.

"All right." Justin put out his hands conciliatorily. "All right. You're not."

He hunched his shoulders as he felt the unfamiliar tears in his eyes again.

"I want to...to be home...but I cannot be...and I do not understand you," he said. "I cannot be like you."

"You don't have be _like_ us if you don't want to, but if you stay out here...what will you do?"

"I do not...know!" He dropped his head and started to cry.

He felt the arm across his shoulders which was a strange, yet nice sensation.

"Then, come back with us. Try it out. If you don't like it, you can always come back."

He looked at Justin and sniffled a few more times.

"Will I have a name?" he asked.

"Yes."

"What will it be?"

"I don't know yet, but we'll help you decide on one."

"Do people choose their own names?"

"Not usually. Usually, their parents choose it for them."

"Will you be my parents?"

Justin paused for a moment and then smiled. "We'll talk about it. For now, let's go back. Okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Justin looked at the boy as he slept, shirt discarded, blankets on the floor, but pillows held tightly in his arms. Even in sleep, he looked lost.

Leanna came over beside him.

"I can't believe how much he looks like Tim," she whispered. "His face. He looks...younger, but the features...they're all the same."

"What are you suggesting?" Justin asked. "He can't take the place of our son."

"Maybe he can..."

Justin took Leanna's arm and pulled her away from the open door, into their bedroom.

"Leanna!"

Leanna's eyes filled with tears. "Look, Justin, I won't forget our son. None of us will...but here is a boy, almost the same age, who is completely and utterly _lost_! He's lost his own identity, for goodness' sake!"

"That's not what he says he's lost."

"I know, but with time...with therapy...with love...he could get back to reality. If what he says is anywhere near the truth, he's been abandoned. He needs a home...and we need something to...to help us heal our own wounds. What better way than by helping someone who needs us?"

"Aren't you worried that he's just a stand-in for what we can't have?"

Leanna nodded. "Maybe a little...but then, I think of his face when he said he didn't want to hurt us. He _meant_ that! The last thing he wanted was to cause pain...the pain he's feeling. If the trauma he feels is real, and I think it is, this is a boy who was betrayed by someone close to him and then left with that betrayal. Why? I don't know, but no one deserves that...and we have the space and the ability to take him in."

"He doesn't want to be in this world, reality or not. He doesn't want it."

Leanna smiled. "Can you blame him? If his family left him on that beach, it's no wonder he chose to create a fantasy to explain it. Who wants to face the possibility of a family not loving him?"

"I'm not against doing this...but I don't want us to get into something we can't handle. Maybe you're right...but maybe he _is_ just crazy."

"If he's willing to take the chance on us...I'm willing to reciprocate," Leanna said firmly.

Justin nodded...a little reluctantly.

"All right. All right, Leanna. We'll do it...and see what happens."

"What'll we call him?"

Justin shook his head. "I don't know."

"He needs a name."

"I know."

"He gave a suggestion."

"Because he didn't even understand what a name is. Even if he's coming into our home, he's not going to be the son we lost."

"But if it's a name he's connected with...maybe it _is_ his name. There have been stranger coincidences."

"We won't decide yet."

"When will we decide?"

"I don't know. Later."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Three months later..._

They discovered quite quickly that it was no easy task, taking the boy they'd found on the beach into their home. First, there was the issue of his name. Once the suggestion of Tim had been made, it seemed impossible to suggest anything else. Justin resisted it, but in the end, the strange teen became Tim. There was no sign of his having been kidnapped, no sign of anyone looking for him. He was just a lost boy in need of a home...and he found that with the McGees. Sarah glommed onto him very quickly...but at the same time didn't want him to take the place of her brother.

Then, there was the issue of what to do with him. He seemed to have had a strange kind of schooling. He knew how to read, but had never really read anything. He knew math, but hadn't ever done a math problem. It was a distinct relief to find that he was actually quite intelligent. His only barrier was, strangely enough, that of language...or of terminology. Common words had to be taught. Common _concepts_ had to be taught. The kinds of things you don't normally teach a person. It's picked up as he grows. Once they showed him a concept, however, he remembered it. True, it was clumsily applied at first, and his social skills were awkward at best, but the stilted cadence he employed to speak smoothed out and became more natural. They were hoping to send him to college, but it was a matter of making sure he would be ready for that, both academically and emotionally.

...which led to the final issue. His mental stability. They took him to a therapist and, after a few months, he stopped talking about someone having stolen his skin and stopped talking about the "human world". ...but he never said anything about his family. No one could persuade him to talk about where he had come from. ...but on days when the wind whipped the sea into a frenzy, they would find him back at the beach, sitting on the sand, watching the waves. He would cry silent, agonizing tears.

Then...one day, during a storm, he came up missing.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"They're saying we could get the last bits of the hurricane," Leanna said worriedly. "He wouldn't be out there, would he? Sarah?"

"He didn't say anything."

That wasn't strange, unfortunately. He spoke very little to them. In fact, they weren't even sure if he liked being with them, although he'd never made the slightest effort to leave.

...until now?

Quickly, Leanna and Sarah headed for the beach, hoping that he would just be there on the sand...but fearing worse.

When they got to the beach, on the sand, they found a neat pile of clothes, secured in place by a large rock.

"They're his," Sarah said...and she looked around for him. There was no sign.

"Tim!" Leanna shouted. It was a rare occasion that they actually called him that. "Tim!"

"Mom! There!" Sarah shouted over the wind. She pointed out to sea.

There, in the midst of the waves, was a solitary figure. He didn't appear to be in any distress. In fact, he seemed to be riding the waves which carried him to the shore. He came out of the water, looking exhausted...wearing absolutely nothing...and accompanied by a number of seals. He didn't even seem to notice the two humans watching him. He stumbled onto the sand and the seals frolicked around him, nuzzling him, encouraging him further out of the water. He crawled forward. Sarah started to run to him, but Leanna held her back for the moment.

One came very close to him and he hugged it. It pulled back and the seals went back into the water, leaving him alone. He dropped his head and started crying again. Leanna let Sarah go.

"Tim!" Sarah called and ran to him. In spite of the fact that he wasn't wearing any clothes, she hugged him tightly. "Tim! We were so worried about you!"

He looked at her and then over at Leanna, trying to suppress the tears. Leanna picked up his clothes and carried them over. She silently held out the clothes. He looked at them and at her. He took them and pulled them on, wet as they were.

"Tim?" Leanna asked, infusing a big question in that one little word.

He heard the question.

...and Tim nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

More than any other event, seeing Tim swimming with the seals, seeing his obvious attachment to them...it demonstrated that there was more to his story than they might have thought. Leanna told Justin about it when he got home, and, after discussing it back and forth for a long time, they decided to stop the therapy sessions. Whatever was wrong with Tim, they decided it wasn't something solved in that way. Instead, they stopped trying to figure it out and they just accepted that Tim would always be a bit different. They got him to connect with the "real" world by encouraging him to do other things.

...and it seemed to work. Slowly, Tim came out of his shell.

The first thing that helped him was when they decided to move. Justin had a chance to be transferred to another base. He explained to his superiors that they wanted to make a clean break of it, get away from all the memories of their lost child. When they settled in their new home, they redoubled their efforts to get Tim caught up academically. They were aided in their efforts by the fact that Tim seemed to catch fire when they showed him books for the first time, when he understood how much there was to learn, how much he'd apparently never known before. Sometimes, Leanna worried that it was just a way for Tim _not_ to think about what he said he lost, but at the same time, he would smile occasionally when he would talk about what he'd learned with his tutor.

The second thing that helped was when they gave him a computer. They hadn't thought much of it. Tim had almost been defeated at the concept of using a fork...but once he was shown what to do, he loved it. Here was another portal to all these things he'd never known. He loved it.

They had no idea how old Tim was. He seemed _so_ young...actually, younger than their son had been. It seemed impossible that he could be eighteen going on nineteen...but when they asked Tim how long he'd been alive, he only looked at them quizzically, not even understanding the question. They tried all sorts of things to explain it to him, but even when he had finally shown some comprehension, he hadn't been able to give them any information.

Eventually, they decided to register him as sixteen years old. It wasn't due to anything but that he seemed younger than their son had been.

...and with deciding on an age, they had to decide what to do with him. As Tim became more...human...it became apparent that he had no identification, no Social Security number, no birth certificate. He had nothing to give any indication of who he was. Unexpectedly, it was Justin's connections that helped. He met with one of his fellow officers, someone he'd known and trusted for years, and explained the situation.

Within a month, Tim had the complete range of identification as...Timothy McGee, son of Leanna and Justin McGee. No mention of being adopted. If someone looked, they might see that there was a deceased son of the same name, but Tim looked so much like his namesake that he didn't look adopted. No one questioned who he was. Sometimes, even his adoptive family would forget that he wasn't a natural part of his family.

...but then, Tim would get quiet. He would stare out the window toward the ocean and he would get an achingly-sad expression on his face. He would fall into a kind of despair that would last for days before he'd come back to himself. It was almost like he'd become someone else during that time.

The last step was getting him to college. ...and this was the one place where they decided to be dishonest. The circumstances of Tim coming to live with them meant that he had no background, no teachers to recommend him, nothing. So an application to universities was hard to fill out. His tutors were willing, but the circumstances weren't exactly ideal. So...Leanna and Justin fudged things a little. They talked to some instructors on base and they helped craft letters that avoided any reference to the fact that Tim was a recent addition to their family. His strange education was covered up and the tutors turned into private instructors for an extremely gifted child.

To their amazement (and with a bit of guilt), Tim was accepted to MIT, mostly on the basis of his computer skills. He moved to Boston. For the first year, the rest of the McGees were with him, just to make sure that all the chaos wouldn't be too much for him.

Tim thrived in a college setting. At times, they could almost forget that they had found him abandoned on the beach.

After a year, the McGees went back to the base and left Tim at MIT.

This was the big test. Tim had been with them since he had so precipitously joined their family. ...but this would be the test to see if he actually wanted to be with them. What they didn't know...and _couldn't_ know was that Tim himself was wondering the same thing.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

As it did so often, Tim felt the sea calling to him. The only problem was that it was winter. It was snowy...and he felt as though his blood had weakened. He couldn't tolerate the cold as he had...before.

...but he couldn't resist the call. Leaving the human world behind, he headed for the ocean. It wasn't particularly easy to get there, but when the urge came over him, he had to obey it. It wasn't irresistible. He could wait, but right now, late in the evening, he would listen to it. The seals wouldn't be there, but he expected that. It actually made it easier to deal with the separation when he couldn't even touch the world he'd lost. The train carried him as close as possible and then he walked to the closest space. The names humans gave to places lost their meanings in these times, and all he knew was ocean or land.

As he sat on the snowy rocks, bundled up against the cold, he closed his eyes and listened to the waves as they crashed onto the shore. The sound seemed to get inside him, and he couldn't only sit, powerless against the roar...the call that beckoned him to the place he couldn't go. The too-ready tears came to his eyes as he listened to the sea. Why had she done this to him? Why? He didn't understand her even now. All he knew was this pain, this loss.

...but no, that wasn't quite true. In the midst of his pain, he had found something else. He didn't know what to call it. It came from the people who had taken him in. A family. He was learning to think of them that way. He was good at _acting_ like he felt that way, but much of it was simply copying what he saw them do, what he saw others do.

How could he continue on this track? When he could forget this world, it was all right, but he couldn't always forget. Times like this. How could he find a job? How could he _be_ a human? He didn't know, but then, every time he thought of giving up, of leaving, he thought of his...family. They were so different from the world in which he'd lived before. ...and beyond that, they were people who had felt such pain, and he had noticed that it had lessened when he had come to them. That was what he had tried to do before, and they were giving back to him. His own pain was less because of them.

What was that feeling he had with them? He didn't know. It was not something they had ever explained to him, but he had seen it among them. He had seen it with other human families. Now, as he stared at the ocean, he wondered more than ever what that feeling was that kept him from running into the ocean. He wanted to know. He _needed_ to know.

He got to his feet and, with one last longing look at the sea, he turned to go back. All he wanted right now was a phone. All he wanted was an answer to his question. He didn't even think about the lateness of the hour. He didn't think about anything but getting something that would explain to him why he was staying in the human world with all its pain and anguish.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

As soon as he got to a place with a phone, he dialed the number of his family. The phone rang for a few seconds before there was an answer.

"_Hello?"_ came Leanna's groggy voice.

"What is it that I feel?" he asked.

"_Tim? Is that you?"_

"Yes. What is it that I feel?" he asked, feeling the urgency clenching his throat tightly.

"_What do you mean, Tim? What's wrong?"_

"I went to the sea. I wanted nothing more than to...to go back...but I stayed...because of this feeling I don't understand! What is that feeling that keeps me here?"

"_When are you feeling it?"_

"When I think of this...family you say I am a part of. When I...I think of all of you. I feel something...something that keeps me from...from leaving, even though it hurts to stay."

There was a long silence.

"_Tim...is it...a good feeling?"_

"I don't...know. It keeps me from...from wanting to leave, even when I want to leave."

"_I can't tell you what you're feeling, but...maybe it's love."_

"I've heard that word before. What does it mean?"

"_It means wanting to be with people. It means caring about them, wanting them to be safe, wanting them to be happy. We...We love you, Tim. We only want you to be happy, and I'm afraid that we don't really do a good job of that."_

"It is...It's..." Tim started to cry, but he didn't know why he was crying. "I never felt that before. Not before I came to live with you. Is this love that I feel?"

"_Maybe it is."_

"I want you to be happy. I care about you. I...I don't...but I want to be other places, but I can't be there, and being here...is...better than...than anything else I can have. Is that love?"

"_Only you can know if that's what you're feeling, Tim. I can only tell you that Justin and I love you. Sarah loves you, and she misses you when you're gone. You're truly our son. That's how we think of you."_

"But...your son died. I'm...I am not him."

"_No, but you are still our son...for as long as you want to be."_

Tim still cried into the phone.

"Why do I care?"

"_I don't know, Tim, but I'm glad you do."_

Tim choked out a good-bye and hung up the phone. Then, he went outside to the river. The river wasn't as bad as the sea. ...but it was still water. He sat, sniffling a little bit and he struggled with understanding this feeling he had. Love. Could it really be that? Why would he love these humans?

_Because they love me. No one ever loved me before. We don't feel those things. It is not who we are. ...but if so, why do I feel it now? What has happened to me to make me feel this?_

He didn't know...but the next morning, he called again.

"_What is it, Tim?" _Leanna asked.

"I love you...Mom." The word felt strange and yet right.

...and when Leanna started crying a little and returned the sentiment, he felt her pain lessen even more...and he knew he had done right.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As the years passed, Tim knew that his family hoped his connection to the sea would lessen. ...and in a way, it did. His trips to the sea became more...controlled. He chose the time.

...but he couldn't leave easy access to the sea. He had the chance to attend other universities. His skills were such that he could go anywhere and pick his job...but he couldn't. He couldn't leave the sea, or at least, he couldn't leave close proximity to it.

They had discovered, at some point, that Tim got seasick on boats. For someone who loved the sea as much as he did, it seemed strange to them, but Tim had tried to explain how strange it felt to be atop the water rather than _in_ it. He couldn't really get them to understand, but the seasickness was one of the things that had kept him from pursuing something directly _on_ the sea.

...but there were other ways to keep in contact with it.

He told his family that he was going to join NCIS. He knew he had shocked them, but he decided that it would be the best way to continue on as he had been. If he was going to be in the human world, he would pursue an occupation that would allow him to touch the ocean.

Leanna and Justin worried that Tim's nebulous past would keep him from achieving his goal. He worried about that, too, but decided that there was nothing to be gained if he kept thinking about it. The less he thought about the life he'd lost, the better.

To everyone's surprise, the background checks didn't turn up anything. ...well, to everyone's surprise but Tim's. He hadn't dared tell his family for fear that they might reject him, but he had gone into the official records and erased any mention of the former Timothy McGee. Anyone checking on his family history would have to search hard for a discrepancy. Tim had also asked a lot of questions about Tim's past. This, at least, made sense to the McGees. They knew that he would need to present a full life, not one that began at sixteen. ...and although they didn't realize it consciously, sharing memories of their son helped heal the pain that still existed for them to some degree.

The best thing about working for NCIS was that he would, of necessity, be based near a coast. Norfolk was a good place to start...and even the transfer further inland to DC had been all right. The hardest thing had been to get used to seeing dead human bodies. He knew about death and the pain that came from it, but he had rarely _seen_ death among the humans. Death came often in the sea. It had taken time to become accustomed to seeing death in all its forms, and he'd never really be happy about it.

Still, as time went on, Tim mostly stopped thinking about the woman who had stolen his joy and happiness. In the loss of the sea, Tim had found other things that took its place...mostly. He had hobbies and friends...and a family. Although it was nearly impossible to define, Tim began to understand that love he'd begun to feel. It was similar to that which he had felt for the sea. Something that had always been there, something vital, needed...both life and death, both protection and danger. Something one never wanted to lose. When that loss came...pain worse than death.

All Tim wanted out of his life now were the moments when he forgot his love of and need for the sea and could simply enjoy the life he had. Sometimes, he could. Other times, the pain was as fresh as if his skin had just been taken from him.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Present..._

The seals were there, frolicking on the shore, paying no heed to the humans walking around with intent and purpose...taking care of the departed of their kind. So long as they did not approach their space, the two species could coexist peacefully.

...but then, another came to join the others. He walked as the humans did, but he was no human. He was not seal. He stopped on his way toward the dead one. He stopped and looked toward them. He spoke not a word in any language, but he was clearly drawn to them. He could not come. It was not permitted. It was not possible, but his anguish for that separation was clear. One took pity and crossed the void between human and seal, heading for the one lost between.

When he reached the one who was neither human nor seal, the seal showed his pity for the lost one. He knelt in the sand and stared at the seal.

He whispered human words which the seal did not understand, but his fresh despair and regret were clear. He hated his prison of flesh. He wished to be free again. He wished to be with his kind.

Then, there was a human shout. The lost one turned and the seal was startled. He fled back to the other seals, leaving the other lost in his world.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"McGee! What are you doing?" Tony shouted.

Tim smiled faintly and got to his feet. He turned away from the world in which he again wished he lived and toward the only world he had.

"I guess the seal had something to say to me," he said as he approached the crime scene.

"Oh yeah? What did he say, Probie?"

"Don't know. I don't speak Seal, Tony," Tim said, forcing a laugh. Today was one of those days when he wished to leave the human world and go back to the sea. He'd been more circumspect since being caught swimming with the seals a few weeks before...but he would need some time in the sea soon.

"I have never seen a seal behave like that," Ziva said.

"Me, neither," Tony said. "How did you do it, McGee?"

I didn't do anything."

"Maybe you _all_ should think about getting some work done instead of worrying about seals. There's a body on the beach here."

Everyone got the none-too-subtle hint and got to work. The body was that of a woman, perhaps in her late forties. At the moment, most of her face was obscured by her hair, but Tim knew her, not her name, nor anything in particular about her...but he knew her nevertheless. Knew her and loathed her. She could have been nothing but bones and he would have known her. It was all he could do not to start looking for what she had taken from him. He had nearly given up ever finding it. The pain of possibility, the pain of desperate hope almost made him gasp for breath.

"Timothy, are you all right, lad?" Ducky asked, looking up at Tim in concern.

Tim cleared his throat, knowing that some of his feeling must have shown on his face.

"Fine, Ducky. Just surprised is all. She's in the Navy?"

"According to her uniform. You know differently?"

"No. Just...surprised, I guess."

"Why?"

"Don't know. Photos, Boss?" Tim asked, turning away from Ducky and the body of the woman who had destroyed him.

Gibbs nodded silently. Tim swallowed nervously and got to work. He couldn't suppress an inhuman feeling of almost happiness that she was dead. It meant that she couldn't hide his skin from him any longer. He might still never find it, but at least it was stuck in one place now. There was more of a chance now than there had been before.

_Serves her right,_ he thought fiercely. _Probably stole from other people, probably used them like she did me._

It surprised Tim that his fury had strengthened so much. He'd thought that he had mostly gotten over the loss, but now, the mere sight of her corpse had pulled him away from his human connections and focused his attention on the possibility of finding his skin and escaping his years-long exile in the human world. He felt less a part of this world than he had in years.

"This is odd," Ziva said from behind him.

Tim turned around as Tony and Gibbs crowded around the fingerprint scanner Ziva was holding.

"What is it?" Tim asked.

"She is not in our system. She has no fingerprints in the database."

"What?"

Ziva looked up at him.

"She is not in the Navy...or any other branch of the military. She is a Jane Doe."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Tim could feel Ducky and Gibbs wondering about him all day. Ducky had likely told Gibbs about Tim's strange moment, and Gibbs would be wondering about why Tim had been surprised before Ziva had discovered the lack of identity. ...and, unfortunately, Tim had no idea what he should say that would diffuse the situation. What could he tell them? It's not like he could admit that he knew the woman because she had lured him out of the ocean and stolen his seal skin when he was younger. Even in his head, it sounded ridiculous from a human point of view...and these were humans he was dealing with.

Something else was bothering him about her, though. That she was the woman who had destroyed him was without a doubt, but why was she dressed as a Navy person? That, Tim had no idea. He didn't know what the reason for it was, and he didn't know who else would have wanted her dead. Physically separated from her, he could touch the human emotions he had become accustomed to. She probably had family somewhere. Someone had decided to dress her in a Navy uniform. There was a genuine case to solve...and it would only tangentially involve the desire of a land-bound selkie to recover his stolen property.

"McGee."

Uh-oh. Here was the moment Tim had not been looking forward to.

"Yeah, Boss?"

"You have something to tell me?"

"Um...I haven't been able to figure out her identity. She doesn't seem to be in any system at all. No fingerprints. I don't even have dental records to compare. I've started the facial recognition software but..."

"That's not what I meant," Gibbs said giving Tim a hard stare.

"Then...what do you mean?"

"You know this woman?" he asked, flipping her image up on the screen.

"No," Tim said, even as the loathing welled up in his stomach. "I don't know who she is." Which was true. All he knew was what she had done to him...and he knew her pain. Nothing else. That was more than enough, but he was being technically honest.

"Then, why were you surprised that she was Navy?"

"She's not."

"We didn't know that when we got to the beach."

Tim swallowed.

"I didn't know that, either."

"And yet you were surprised. We investigate crimes in the Navy, McGee. That's our job. Why would you expect anything else?"

"I didn't expect anything."

"Dang it, McGee! What's going on?"

"I don't know, Boss. I don't know who she is or why she was killed."

"But you know something about her."

Tim shook his head and forced himself to meet Gibbs' gaze without flinching. There was absolutely nothing he could tell Gibbs that Gibbs would believe.

"No. I don't know anything except that she was murdered and that she isn't in the Navy. I'm trying to find out more, Boss. When I know...I'll tell you."

Gibbs looked at him silently for a few seconds...just long enough for Tim to worry that he'd gone too far.

"And when you know, you'll tell what you're not now."

"I'm not hiding anything."

Gibbs smiled...and Tim knew that he hadn't pulled the lie off very well at all. Gibbs knew he was lying, and Gibbs knew that there was more going on here than he'd admitted. ...of course, Gibbs had no idea how much more there was...and he'd never believe it anyway, but Tim knew he wasn't off the hook. ...but Gibbs wasn't pushing him to talk right now. Maybe he could think of something that would put Gibbs off for a while.

But for the moment, he was free. Gibbs walked away to hover menacingly somewhere else. ...but what he couldn't avoid was the latent desire to return to the sea. Her murder had only intensified his feeling. He felt like he was going to choke on it. He'd _have_ to go tonight. The seals might be around...but he didn't know. Maybe it would be better if they weren't this time. If they weren't, he could just swim and then go back. If they _were_ there, he'd allow himself to get pulled into that world as far as he could go.

When the day ended, they were allowed to leave. No real resolution on the body they'd found, although both Gibbs _and_ Ducky gave Tim significant looks. Still, they had work to do the next day, but it could wait until the morning.

"Hey, McGee, you're looking a little green around the gills. You feeling all right?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"We are going to get a drink, McGee," Ziva said. "Are you coming?"

Tim shook his head. "Not tonight, guys. I think I'll turn in early."

"Ah, come on, Probie! Live a little!"

"No thanks, Tony."

Tony looked at Ziva. "You know what _I_ think? I think McGee is secretly the guy who was swimming with the seals a few weeks ago...and he's off to a secret meeting with them tonight. That's why that one came and chatted him up this morning."

Tim forced a laugh along with Ziva who was laughing at Tony with genuine humor.

"Yeah, Tony...that's really likely. I'm the guy who gets seasick, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Tony said and furrowed his brow in a parody of deep thought. "Maybe it's an act, like Ziva and her messing up of idioms. No one could live in this country for as long as she does and not figure out _some_ of them."

"It's not an act, Tony. You've seen me throw up before. I'm not faking it."

Ziva shoved Tony toward the elevator. "Are you sure you do not wish to join us, McGee? Tony _might_ be able to behave."

Tim smiled. "No thanks. I'll just head home." _Wherever that really is..._

"All right, all right," Tony groused with a smile. "I can tell when I'm not wanted."

"Really, Tony? Are you sure of that?" Ziva shot back.

"Man, everyone's ragging on me, today!"

Tim left them still picking at each other and got in his car. As soon as he was sitting in the driver's seat, he felt as though something else took control. He could no more have gone to his apartment than he could fly. He was being called. Jethro would be missing him, but that was just going to be too bad for right now. He had to go.

The gathering clouds overhead went unnoticed.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"What was up with McGee, today?" Tony asked the others at the bar.

"Was something wrong?" Abby asked. "I didn't see much of him."

"There was a seal that came right up to him on the beach," Ziva said.

"Wow. Cool!" Abby said. "Why?"

"I do not know why, but it was strange. It was almost like it recognized him."

Tony scoffed at that. "Oh, come on. It's a seal! How many people do _you_ know who are on a first-name basis with the local seal population?"

"I found that Timothy was acting strangely this morning, myself," Ducky said. "I would almost have thought that he knew the woman who was killed, but he denied it."

"Well, he wouldn't have pretended not to know her," Tony said. "McGee wouldn't lie about a victim in a case."

Ducky shook his head. "I don't know. Normally, I would agree with you, Anthony, but I'm finding myself uncertain. The expression on his face was very strange."

"Well, I think McGee was a bit off today, but unless _he_ killed the woman all this is just silly. ...and McGee being a killer is even _more_ ridiculous."

Abby laughed. "Definitely."

"Did you find the cause of death, Ducky?" Ziva asked.

"Indeed. Death was by drowning, although, judging by the bruising on her neck, I must say that it would have been strangulation had she been held any tighter."

"Sea water," Abby added. "She was killed at least _near_ where you guys found her."

Tony looked at his glass. "Too bad we can't get the seal whisperer to ask his friend what happened. I'll bet the seals were there."

"Tony, _what_ is your obsession with those seals?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know," Tony said. "It's just weird that they were there and so fascinated by McGee. That's all."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim pulled onto the beach and stripped down to his boxers. He waited only a moment before running out into the waves. He began to swim with powerful strokes. Out farther and farther from the shore. He dove down as far as he could go and then burst out of the water, shaking his head to get the salt out of his eyes.

Suddenly, he was aware that he had company. He hadn't expected them to be there. The seals were swimming around him. He smiled and began to swim with them. So much for being circumspect. Oh, well. Tim shed his human concerns with ease and let himself be carried about by the seals around him.

After a while, he was starting to tire, and he noticed that he was further from shore than he had planned. It would be a long swim.

Maybe it would be _too_ long for his much more human body.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. He began to swim. But then, he noticed the change in the weather.

_Uh oh. A storm._

That was _not_ a good thing. A storm coming in could really be dangerous. He'd never told his family how close he'd come to drowning back when he had run away from them when the call of the sea had become too strong for him to resist it.

Long before he was safely ashore, the storm broke over his head. The rain poured down so that he could barely see what direction he was facing. He had to stop and get his bearings, but the waves pushed him down below the surface of the water.

The seals surged around him and pushed him up. He reached the open air, gasping for breath. Another wave broke over his head and he started coughing as the water got in his mouth. He became aware that the seals were propelling him forward. He could only hope that they were taking him the right way.

After a few minutes, he felt like he could do some of the swimming himself. He leaned forward and the seals instantly let him swim on his own. It was still a long swim, but he was chagrined at the idea of having the seals fix his problem. Finally, he felt as though he could touch the ground. He stumbled onto the beach and collapsed. The tide crashed onto the beach and swamped him again. He breathed in seawater yet again and started to cough. One of the seals nudged him and Tim got to his hands and knees and dragged himself away from the edge of the water...and then fell to the sand again. The rain pelted down on his bare skin. It was rather cold and it was windy...and Tim was exhausted. He curled into a tight ball and tried to recover enough energy to get back to his car.

...but he fell asleep.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony couldn't have explained it, but he felt like there was something more going on than just the case. Tim had seemed strange in spite of his attempts to act normal. Tony didn't know what it was, but it was enough that he decided to go and bug Tim in his apartment.

...but when he got there, Tim's apartment was dark...and there was no car. Tim wasn't home.

He had no idea where to look, and he had no idea why Tim had said he was going home...and he wasn't there. Furrowing his brow, he pulled out his phone and called Tim.

"_Hello, you've reached Tim McGee. I'm not available right now. Please leave a message."_

"Yo, McGee. What's up? You out partying without me?"

Tony hung up, but his gut was telling him that Tim _wasn't_ partying. The problem was he had no idea _what_ Tim would be doing instead.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim felt a nose nudging him and he woke up, cold and shivering...and wet.

He sat up and looked around, forgetting where he was, for a moment. He looked around and suddenly remembered.

"The sea," he whispered. Facing the water, in the middle of the storm, he thought back to that first night...alone. He had felt abandoned, bereft. ...and he had been saved by human beings who had taken him in, given him a name, given him _love_, an emotion he still wasn't sure he quite understood.

All that remained for him was this desire to throw himself into the water and try and be a part of it as he had been in his youth. He had that...and then, the life he'd built as a human being...a life that pulled him back from the edge of the sea time and time again.

He looked at the seal who had waited for him to awaken...and he quirked a half smile.

"She's dead...but I still have no idea where to look. Should I even bother?"

But the answer was, and had to be, _yes_. He couldn't _not_ look.

"If I keep doing this...it's going to kill me sooner or later. I can't do what my...my spirit wants to do. ...and I can't not do it. ...and I'm still sitting out here in the rain even though I know I shouldn't be."

The seal waddled over to him and nudged him toward his car.

"Yeah, I know. This was stupid of me."

Tim got up, swayed and nearly fell over, but he managed to keep on his own two feet and stagger to his car. He got in, didn't bother to get dressed again, and drove home. It was only when he got back to DC that he thought about checking his phone. He saw that he had missed five calls.

...all from Tony.

"Great. If he's hanging around my apartment...this is going to be hard to explain."

His phone rang again. Tim sighed and answered.

"Yeah?"

"_McGee! Where are you?"_

"What are you, Tony? My nursemaid?"

"_No. You said you were going home."_

"I was." _I did,_ Tim added silently.

"_You're not home right now."_

"I almost am, and I'm not in the mood to be pestered, Tony. I'm tired and I want to sleep."

"_Where have you been?"_

"None of your business," Tim snapped and hung up. ...instantly feeling bad about that. Tony had been concerned, but sometimes, the pressure of having to conceal something so essential to him got to be too much...and when Tony started feeling worried, he tended to make things worse.

Tim pulled up to his apartment and didn't see Tony's car. Thank goodness. He grabbed his clothes and sprinted inside, hoping that he could just feed Jethro, maybe let him out for a minute and then collapse.

Jethro nearly took him out in his excitement. Tim did regret leaving him alone for so long.

"Let me get some clothes on, okay?" Tim said, forcing Jethro back into the apartment. He fed Jethro quickly and then went into his bedroom. He pulled on some sweats and then went back out.

"How you doing, huh?" he asked.

Jethro just looked happy. His tail was wagging as he stuffed his face.

"You want to pause long enough to go out?"

Jethro looked at him and barked...and grabbed his leash.

"Okay. I got you. Let's go."

Tim got to the door and opened it and then fell backward with a shout.

"Tony!"

"Welcome back," Tony said, stone-faced.

Tim sighed. "You scared me to death. Look, I'm taking Jethro out and then I'm going to bed. You want to bug me, can it wait until tomorrow?"

Tim stepped out past Tony and down the stairs. He urged Jethro to hurry about his business...because Tony had followed them.

"What's going on with you, McGee? You've been acting weird all day."

"Nothing is going on, Tony. I'm tired and I want to go to bed."

Tony suddenly sniffed.

"Have you been swimming in the ocean?"

Oops. He always forgot that the ocean tended to have a rather obvious smell. Once he was in it, he forgot about that. It was just...home.

"Yes." He didn't see any point in trying to lie about it.

"Why?"

"Why not?" Tim retorted.

Jethro finished and tugged on the leash, eager to get back to his food.

"McGee..."

"Tony, I'm tired. I'm going to bed. If I wanted to go for a swim, it's none of your business. Just drop it! ...or if you can't do that, at least wait until tomorrow."

Tony shook his head but allowed Tim to walk past him.

"Did you know the woman who was killed?"

Tim stopped and turned around.

"No, Tony. I don't know who she is. I don't know her name. I don't know why she was killed. I don't know...I don't even know_ what_ killed her. I'm completely in the dark about her. ...and if your next question is whether or not I killed her, the answer is no. Can I go now?"

"Something's up with you, McGee. You can pretend, but we can all see it. If it has something to do with this case..."

"Nothing's up...and if there was, it wouldn't have anything to do with the case. Good night, Tony."

"Night, Probie."

Tony walked back to his car, leaving Tim with Jethro pulling his arm off in his attempt to get back inside.

"Okay, okay," Tim said finally. "Let's go inside, buddy."

He went inside and let Jethro back at his food. Tim himself went to his bed, fell on it and was asleep in seconds.

...dreaming of the sea.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Tim was pretty sure that there would be some kind of reaction the next morning when he got to work, but he wasn't ready for what did happen.

Tony was waiting for him outside NCIS with as serious an expression as Tim had ever seen on him. He sighed.

"Tony, I'm sorry I barked at you last night," Tim said, hoping to forestall any more questions. "I was really tired."

"You think you can talk enough to get out of it?"

Tim smiled. "I don't know. What do you want to know?"

"What's going on?"

"I didn't feel like hanging out last night. I went to the ocean and went for a swim."

"At night?"

"Didn't have time during the day."

"What about the seal?"

Tim forced a laugh. "Tony, I can't control what animals do. I can barely get _Jethro_ to mind me. I don't know why the seal came over to me and no one else."

"You sure about that?"

"Positive. I can't explain what I don't understand."

"And the woman?"

"I didn't kill her."

Tony rolled his eyes in exasperation. "That's not what I'm asking, and you know it."

"Are you sure?" Tim asked. "Because I can't understand why you're so intent on finding something strange here."

"You've been acting strange, Probie."

"Tony, I don't know her. I don't know why I was so surprised by seeing her on the beach. I can't explain it."

"Can't or won't?"

"I can't." Tim knew there were no words to explain his instant visceral reaction to seeing her dead, and he had no idea why she was there. There was no way he could explain to Tony what was going on.

"McGee, you're not acting normal...not even for you."

"I don't know what to tell you, Tony," Tim said. "I can't satisfy your curiosity if I don't know what's going on myself."

"Why did you go swimming in the ocean?"

"I just wanted to. I know that doesn't seem normal to you, but it's something I've done for a long time. You can ask my family."

Tony's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You have? You've never mentioned it."

"It's none of your business. I don't have to tell you everything I do. ...and I haven't."

"You tell us quite a bit...why keep _that_ from us?"

"I wasn't _keeping_ it from you. It never came up. Don't I have the right to keep some of my private life private?"

"Were you swimming in the ocean a few weeks ago?"

"Tony, are you going to accuse me of something? If so, just do it; so I can tell you I didn't and we can move on."

"You're lying, McGee. I don't know why, but you are."

Tim sighed. "Let me say this slowly and clearly so you understand me: I. Do. Not. Know. That. Woman. I. Know. Nothing. About. Her. Is that clear enough for you?" He pushed past Tony and headed into the building. He regretted pushing Tony away so firmly, but answering one question meant answering others...and those questions were harder. Tim knew that his own family didn't really believe that he was a selkie, and they'd interacted with him for a lot longer. What chance did he have with his coworkers?

None. There was only one sure way of proving his story, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. He wondered if his DNA would be different, but he didn't know that for sure. Why ask for something when he couldn't be sure of the result? ...and if there _was_ a difference, he could only imagine the face of the technician who processed _that_ sample.

Tim smiled and sighed as he sat down at his computer. He knew that this wouldn't be the end of it for Tony. He would keep poking and prodding because something had got under his craw. It would have to be that way...and Gibbs was wondering about him, too. He wondered how long it would take for everyone to start asking him questions.

"McGee!"

Tim perked up. "Yes, Boss?"

"Track this woman down. Find out where she's been living."

"By myself?"

Gibbs paused. "Not on foot. Do your computer thing."

Tim smiled. "Yes, Boss." Something he could do. Something that made sense. Something that would distract him from the chaos bubbling beneath the surface.

When Tony came in, he said nothing to Tim...and Tim was glad. At some point, he knew he'd have to apologize for his rather acerbic attitude, but he couldn't do it right now. ...not and sound sincere. He was still annoyed that there were these implications that he could have had something to do with her death. Why would that be the first thought?

When Ziva arrived, Gibbs instantly sent her out with Tony to start canvassing the areas near where the body had been found in an attempt to identify her. When they were gone, Tim worried that there would be more attempts to get at the root of his weirdness. They never would, but Tim was aware enough to realize that there was a lot of potential for things to go wrong in his life if they kept going on the track they were.

...but Gibbs said nothing to him, either. Instead, he went out with Tony and Ziva, leaving Tim alone. For once, he was glad of it. As he looked through records he could access easily, he scanned for information, a photo...anything.

After an hour of looking, he suddenly had another idea.

He knew a place she'd been before. Somewhere that she had definitely _been_. Maybe he could make more progress if he included that in his search.

_They'll ask why you thought of this...and you won't be able to tell them the truth. How many lies are you willing to tell to solve the murder of someone you're glad is dead?_ Tim thought to himself. _It's not to solve the murder. It's to find what she stole. ...and why she did it._

That last thought was new. Tim had never even considered wondering _why_ this woman had chosen to destroy him. Never. Had he become so human that he really cared what excuse she might have had? Had he weakened so much?

_No. This is your job. This is what you do for a living. Investigate. ...and if you find her base of operations, you might find what you're looking for._

He pulled up the facial recognition software and added in another area to search. Having the area narrowed a bit would help speed things up.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Hi, NCIS. I'm Agent DiNozzo. This is Agent David. Do you have a moment?" Tony asked, smiling winningly at the young ladies who were tanning on the beach.

One of them responded to his flirtatious grin. She sat up.

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

"We're investigating a murder."

Her face crinkled up. "Oh...I heard about that...the body up the beach here?"

"That is correct," Ziva said.

Her friend also sat up.

"What do you want us to do? We weren't here when those people found her. Thank goodness."

"We just want to ask if you've seen the woman around," Tony asked.

"You have a picture? ...alive or dead?"

"Dead, I am afraid," Ziva said. "Will that disturb you?"

"A little, but we'll look."

Ziva held out the photo. "Have you ever seen this woman before?"

The women took the photo and examined it carefully.

"Maybe."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning...I might have seen her on the beach before...but I didn't ever talk to her. If this is the same person...she was always by herself. She was...not friendly. If she was in the area people wanted to set up...they'd wait until she left."

"But...we really didn't look at her closely. It's just possible."

"Okay. Thank you. Did you notice if she drove?"

"Never saw her with a car, but only saw her on the beach anyway."

"Thank you for your time," Ziva said.

Ziva and Tony left the two women and continued on their way.

"They were the fourth group to say that they saw her on the beach but stayed away. If this woman was here so often, where did she live? No one mentioned seeing a car."

"They also mostly said like those two did. She was always on the beach. They didn't see her get here."

"True. This is strange, Tony."

"Yeah," Tony said. "A lot of things are strange." He was thinking of Tim...not of the case, but what if they _were_ connected somehow? The idea that Tim could be a killer was ludicrous, but there was _something_ going on. Why would he lie about it?

"Tony?"

"What?"

"There is another group who has just arrived."

Tony took a breath and sighed. "Well, let's go see if they know anything."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Gibbs walked across the beach to the lifeguard on duty. The first one he'd talked to was a sub and couldn't tell him anything really. He hoped that the regular lifeguard would have noticed this woman.

"Lori Bucan?" he asked.

The lifeguard paused and turned around.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Agent Gibbs, NCIS," he said, holding up his badge. "I'd like to ask you about the body we found on this beach."

"Oh. Of course. Mal told me about it. Never had a dead body on this beach. Drunks...couple of drug busts one night...partiers, but not murder."

"Have you ever seen this woman before?" he asked and let her see the picture.

Lori looked at the picture. "Oh...she's dead, isn't she."

"Yes."

"I've seen her. A lot. She was _always_ on this beach when I was here. I tried talking to her once, but she didn't seem at all interested in conversation. I couldn't prove it, but I felt like she was really...mad at the world."

"Did you ever see anyone with her?"

"No. ...oh, wait. There was a man with her once last week. Never seen him before. It was the first time I'd seen her smile."

"Could you describe him?"

Lori sucked air through her teeth and shook her head. "Not in any detail. He was taller than she was. Dark hair. His clothes were rather drab...um...he wasn't wearing any shoes, but that's not really weird on a beach."

Gibbs nodded. "Did you ever see her get here?"

"No. She was always around on the beach when I'd get here in the mornings."

"Car?"

"Maybe? I did see her coming from the parking lot over that way a couple of times," she said, pointing southwest.

Gibbs looked over. "Any cars you see over there that haven't moved in a while?"

Lori squinted at the cars in the lot.

"I don't usually pay a whole lot of attention to the cars in the lot. I'm supposed to be watching the ocean."

Gibbs smiled. "Okay. If you think of anything else, let me know." He handed her a card.

"I will."

He headed toward the parking lot. When he got there, he called Tim and asked him to look up the license plates of the cars, clearing one after another.

Then, there was a long silence.

"McGee?"

"_Uh...Boss..."_

"What, McGee?"

"_I've...got a name."_

"And?"

"_Karie Martinson."_

"This is her car?"

"_Uh...no."_

"Then, who is she?"

"_The name came up in the search I was running. I just got the results."_

"And?"

"_And...the last known address is from more than twenty years ago...but..."_

"But what, McGee? Spit it out!"

"_The address is from that area. Might still be hers."_

Tim's hesitancy couldn't be chalked up to that, but Gibbs decided to leave that for now.

"Give me the address. We'll check it out."

Tim rattled it off and then hung up...a bit too eagerly. He headed over and got Tony and Ziva and they left to check out this house.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim looked at the news article he'd found...from about twenty-five years ago. Not long before she'd destroyed him.

_New mother claims baby stolen_

A woman, not married, had a baby boy who had disappeared only a few months after his birth. Karie Martinson had claimed that the baby had been taken from his crib in the night and begged for help finding her son.

She said that he'd been taken to the sea...but given no evidence of why she thought that. He read through the news articles and discovered that she had become the prime suspect but was never charged due to a complete lack of evidence. She had cooperated in every respect, letting the police search every part of her house, took a lie detector test. Everything the police had asked of her, she had done.

...and now, Tim had a very bad feeling about the meaning of all this.

Gibbs would kill him, but Tim knew there was something he had to do. First, he filled out a sick leave request form and left it on Gibbs' desk. Then, he left NCIS, got in his car and started to drive.

...to the sea.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Tim felt like the woman was destroying his life again. In death, she was taking away the life he'd created out of the wreckage of the life she had stolen already.

How much was his own fault, he wasn't sure...but he was sure that he'd be much better off if her body had never shown up on the beach.

...where he was now headed. Not the exact same beach. If he was right, the seals would have moved to another place, avoiding even the appearance of suspicion...not that anyone would suspect them, really.

As he drove, he wondered what Gibbs would say if he knew where Tim was going. He also wondered what Gibbs would say when he realized that his agent had left work very early. All in all, this was not an auspicious way to finish out the work day. Perhaps he should have waited, but deep inside, he knew he couldn't. This was something he needed to answer. Now.

He pulled up to the beach and got out of his car. He hurried down to the water's edge and closed his eyes. Sometimes, if he tried, he could touch the minds of those he had once counted as his own. He didn't normally try it because he didn't want to feel them. It was too painful. Not now. Now, he needed to have answers he could only get from them.

He reached out, away from his human body, out into the sea, extending himself ever further away until he felt as though his soul would bear the strain no longer. He fell to his knees and got soaked by the incoming tide. The world oozed away from him. Time lost meaning. His humanity faded in the face of the power he was trying to touch inside himself.

Then, he felt something. He opened his eyes...and saw a seal.

No, not a seal.

"You came," he whispered. "The seal on the beach. He was telling me something, wasn't he."

He was nudged away from the water and toward the rocks. He allowed himself to be pushed in that direction. When they were out of sight of anyone who might come to this part of the beach, he stopped walking.

"I must know," he said.

The selkie removed his skin and stood straight and tall.

"Tell me. Is what I fear true?"

"What do you fear?"

"Her child was stolen."

"Not stolen. Returned."

"He was her son."

"He was a selkie. He would not have lived in the human world."

"I did. I have."

"Without your skin. Without the marks that set you apart. The child was a selkie. If he had stayed in the human world, he would have been studied. He would have been a danger to all of us. We brought him to his rightful place. She was told. She knew, but she would not accept what had to be."

"What _had_ to be?" he asked. "As what happened to me?"

"There was no option. You know it. She should have. She refused to accept it."

Clarity struck him almost too hard. "You killed her."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"You ask that after what she did to you? Do you think you were the only one fooled?"

"I wasn't?"

"No. Two others. When we discovered it, we had to stop her. She would destroy us all if she could, refusing to stop no matter what."

"Why the Navy dress?"

"To show you that she was dead. There is no other way she would have come to your notice. No reason she should unless you saw her. Now, you may look...as the other is looking."

"Only one other?" he asked.

"Some cannot bear the separation."

He swallowed.

"You know that feeling."

"Yes...but you do not."

"No, I do not."

"I don't...know what to do."

"Find your skin which she had taken and return to your home."

He turned away.

"Or have you changed so much?"

"I have lived as a human longer than I lived as a selkie."

"You _are _a selkie. Not a human."

He turned back. "I have changed!"

"So much that you do not feel the sea calling in your blood? So much that you would refuse the chance to return?"

"No."

"You are a selkie."

"I am not...not as you think I am."

The selkie put out his hand and touched his chest. He closed his eyes and felt the stirring inside, that which called him to the sea...but it was muffled.

He opened his eyes.

"You have changed," he agreed, "but still you cannot change what you are. Stuck as you are in one form, that does not remove the other shape that defines you."

"There is...more than pain in this life. I have...learned."

"What have you learned?"

"Love."

"And what is love?"

"I cannot give it words. It is...what you feel for the sea but for other people."

"And what else have you learned?"

"About family. People who care for me even though I am not easy to care for. It is not only pain."

"And you feel none now?"

"No. That is not what I am saying. I..."

He put his head to the side and blinked a few times. "You are saying that you are unsure about whether or not you wish to come back to us."

He dropped his head. "Yes."

"You feel you have a choice?"

"No."

"But you wish you were able to choose?"

"Yes."

"And what _would_ you choose? To stay stranded on the land, to never feel the touch of the sea again? Do you think that you can give up this life that was taken from you?"

"I...don't know what I would choose...but I have no choice. If I find my skin, I will take it back."

"And you cannot return to the life you left. That is a law that _cannot_ be broken. Not by anyone."

"I know."

"This law was set long before us. It is a law which protects us all."

"I know!"

"Then, with this conflict, perhaps it would be best if you could not make that choice you cannot make at all. We do not have many laws, but those we have are inviolable. There is only one penalty."

"I know."

"Is this love you say you feel for this human family stronger than the sea?"

"Nothing is stronger than the sea," he said softly.

"True."

"But if there _is _something stronger...it is this love."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The house was secluded and put off an aura of _keep away_. There was no sign warning trespassers, but it felt like the kind of place potential trespassers would want to avoid. Gibbs, Tony and Ziva went to the door and knocked. No answer, and the door wasn't locked. They went inside the small house.

"Man, who lived here? The boogeyman?" Tony asked.

"It does not look like a welcoming place," Ziva agreed.

"Spread out," Gibbs said, drawing his gun. "Check all the rooms."

"There is no one in this house," Ziva said.

"Check it anyway."

They split up and covered the single floor in under five minutes. No one was there. They started to search the place more thoroughly.

Tony opened a closet in the bedroom.

"Boss, look at this," he said.

Gibbs walked over.

The closet door had pictures, newspaper articles...and what looked like the results of a polygraph.

"What's all this?"

Gibbs just grunted and pulled out his phone. He listened to the ringing and Tony could faintly hear a voicemail message.

"_Hello, you've reached Timothy McGee..."_

Tony almost winced. With how strangely Tim had been acting, not answering his phone was a definite no-no. Even more than usual.

Gibbs' expression was rather wooden. Tony debated whether or not he should try to do anything to assuage Gibbs' irritation.

He quickly lost his chance.

"Gibbs, come and look at this," Ziva called.

They walked into the other small room. Ziva had opened a trunk. All that was inside was some strange gray material.

"What's that?" Tony asked. "A tarp?"

Ziva shook her head. "I do not know _what_ it is, but it is not a tarp. It is not plastic. I am not familiar with it." She held it up to Tony and Gibbs.

Tony felt it.

"Weird."

Gibbs looked at it and touched it.

"There are two in here," Ziva said. "...and some strange powder on the bottom of the trunk."

"Okay. Get that documented and then finish up. Fingerprints, photos. Everything. I want to know who was in this house besides our victim."

Tony nodded and got to work while Gibbs walked out, dialing on his phone as he left.

"McGee didn't answer his phone," Tony muttered.

"That is not good. Did he tell you anything?" Ziva asked.

"Nothing. Something's going on. I just don't know what it is."

"Are you going to tell Gibbs?"

"No...not without knowing what I'm telling him. McGee did say something to me today...I think I might do some checking."

"Checking on what?"

"Maybe there's something related to this case, maybe not...but there's something that he's hiding."

"Perhaps it is just a coincidence."

"Gibbs doesn't believe in coincidences."

"You are not Gibbs."

"I believe that McGee is hiding something, but I don't know what it is."

"Very well. Maybe I could get him to talk more?"

"Feel free to try."

Ziva smiled and began photographing the strange gray material in the trunk.

"Whatever it is that he is hiding, it is likely not anything as bad as this."

"As what? A trunk full of weird stuff?"

Ziva laughed. "I am sure he does not have any significant skeletons in his trunk."

"Closet."

"Whatever."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim stood on the beach for a while after the selkie left. He hadn't realized that he felt the way he did until pressed. Did he really want to stay on land? Was it possible that he wanted to live like a human for the rest of his life, forever separated from his true home?

_Is it your home any longer?_

Yes. Yes, it was. The longing he felt was not false. He wanted that home. He did.

...and yet...

With a sigh of confusion, he trudged back to his car, unsure of what to do, not knowing what it was he was feeling.

_You have to figure this out before something happens and you don't have the time to think._

He did know that, but he was so confused.

Then, he realized that his phone was ringing...and he had a bad feeling that he knew who it was. Could he _not_ answer it?

No.

With a deep breath, full of trepidation, Tim lifted his phone to his ear.

"McGee," he said tentatively.

"_Where have you been?"_ Gibbs demanded angrily.

"I wasn't feeling well. I left."

"_When?"_

"After I talked to you. Starting feel sick. Went home."

"_Sick?"_ Gibbs' voice was thick with skepticism.

Tim winced, but at least Gibbs couldn't see him.

"Sorry, Boss. Really. I filled out a form."

"_Did it occur to you to tell someone that you were leaving?"_

Tim silently cursed his thoughtlessness.

"No. Sorry, Boss."

"_Stop apologizing. What did you find out before you left?"_

"That the woman was...kind of a local crazy. She..."

"_...had a baby that was abducted?"_

"Yeah. How did you–?"

"_We found some pictures and news clippings in her house."_

Tim felt his heart start thumping wildly in his chest. "Did...Did you...find anything else?"

"_What are you expecting, McGee?"_

"Nothing. Just wondering."

"_A trunk with some gray material in it."_

Tim felt as though he could barely breathe. Gray material. After all these years, it was so close to being in his grasp. So close. He nearly choked on the realization that his skin was so near.

"_McGee, you okay?"_

"F-Fine," Tim managed to get out.

"_Are you sure?"_

"Y-Yeah. I...I'm fine...Boss. I'll see you." Tim committed another cardinal sin and hung up, but he couldn't maintain any sort of equilibrium now. He couldn't. Not knowing that they'd found his skin. It would be put in the evidence lockup. He had access to that. Tonight. Tonight, he could...

_...leave the life you've made totally behind._

He gasped, feeling like someone had doused him in cold water. He looked at the sea, spreading out in front of him.

Land or sea. No real middle of the road. The law was that you could not return to human connections you had made. It increased the risk of discovery. A single seal returning to a specific location. It was not allowed. They had to be so very careful. Humans would experiment on them.

_Humans._

He would have to give up this life forever. If he got his hands on his skin again, he would have to go back to the sea. His body yearned for it.

_What if I never touched it?_

...but even as he thought it, he knew it was impossible. Tim knew that he wouldn't be able to resist that call. This was not a simple desire for the ocean. It was the burning longing to make oneself whole again.

The pull was so strong, but did he want to return to the selkie world again? Did he genuinely _want_ that? The confusion was so deep and he had no one to turn to for help. The selkies took it for granted that he would return. That was what selkies did. The humans didn't know and wouldn't believe the truth about him. He pressed the heels of his hands against his forehead.

He had never really imagined that this day would come. ...still less had he imagined that he'd feel such confusion about what he wanted to do.

"Who am I?" he whispered. "_What_ am I now?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Abby carefully put a sample of the gray powder from the trunk onto a slide for analysis. She had no idea what it was. She'd already taken a sample of one of the two pieces of gray material. That was also a mystery to her. The feel of the material was like no fabric she'd ever seen. The two pieces were about the same size and seemed to be...almost like capes or something. Just strange.

She'd actually decided to stay late in order to get through all the samples and fingerprints she had to run...just so that she could get to this weird fabric.

The doors to her lab opened.

"Gibbs, I'm not done yet. Go to bed!" Abby said without turning.

"Not Gibbs," came the voice from behind her.

Abby spun around and saw Tim standing there in the entrance. He didn't look like himself.

"Tim...you don't look so good. I thought you were sick."

"I'm feeling better...I just wanted to see what you'd found out. Lot of stuff happened today. I didn't want to miss it all."

Abby grinned. "Well, far be it from me to deny your curiosity. Fingerprints are running. No real DNA samples to speak of. I've barely got started on the cool stuff." She held up one of the pieces of fabric. "Look at this! It's so weird! I have no idea what it is or what it would have been used for. I've already got a sample running from the other one."

"Where...is...the other one?"

"Evidence lockup, of course," Abby said. "You sure you're okay? You look kind of...gray."

Tim smiled wanly. "I've felt better, but I'm better than I was. What are you doing?"

"Running a sample of the other one and I've almost got a sample of the powder."

"Powder?"

"Yeah. The whole bottom of the trunk was full of powder. Dark gray. Don't know what it is."

Tim swallowed a bit convulsively.

"Tim, you going to throw up? If so, get the garbage can."

Tim managed another smile, but he did take one of her small garbage cans.

"Just in case. I don't think I will."

"Man, you must be _really_ interested to be here feeling that bad."

"You know me."

"Well, I was just about to take a sample of the other fabric."

"Didn't you say it looked the same?"

"Yeah, but maybe I'm wrong. I should make sure."

"Do you really _need_ to or are you just curious?"

"Guilty as charged," Abby confessed. "You know me too well. I don't like being kept out of what's going on. It's just weird stuff and I want to understand."

"Well...maybe you'll get a lot of info from the other one. Don't destroy something if you don't have to."

"I wouldn't be _destroying_ it, Tim. It's just fabric."

"She thought it was valuable enough to...to...hi-keep it safe. Maybe we'll find family. They won't want to have a hole cut in it just for your curiosity."

"You're right," Abby said reluctantly. "Tony mentioned that you seemed to care about this case a lot. By the way...I hear you've got a connection with the seals."

"It's not a connection."

"You were chatting with one, Tony said."

"I wasn't chatting. It just came up to me for a few seconds. I didn't know why it did. I can't control seals."

"I know," Abby said, chuckling. "Funny how obsessed Tony was about it, though. I can't figure out why."

"Me, neither."

Abby finished preparing the sample and held it out for Tim to look at.

"See this? You ever see anything like it before? It's not grainy, like sand. It's not ashes. Actually, some of the bigger pieces remind me of old, dried-up leather."

Tim looked at it, and then, all the color drained from his face, and Abby could see what was going to happen. She yanked her sample away, pulled the trash can from Tim's limp grasp and held it up, while bending his head over it...just in time for him to start throwing up. His hands wrapped around the can. Abby wrinkled her nose at the rank fumes and the unpleasant sound, but she couldn't just leave Tim to manage on his own. When he finished, he was shaking a bit and looked a little unsteady.

"Okay, Tim. You all finished?"

"I...I think so," Tim said softly.

Abby guided him to a chair.

"Okay. You have a seat. You think you might throw up again?"

Tim closed his eyes and shook his head.

"No. I'm okay."

"Yeah, that's what you said before. You stay there, and I'll...get rid of this...and then, I'll get you some water. Just stay where you are...and then...you can go home. I don't want you getting sick on my samples. I have work to do."

Tim managed a wan smile and leaned back in the chair.

"Clearly, I shouldn't have tried to come in."

"Oh, it's okay. I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks."

Abby left him and went on her errands.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim took a few deep breaths and tried not to cry out of sorrow. One had died. He had known it, but to see all that remained was hard. He didn't know who it was who had died from the separation, but his skin had died when he had. The other was still alive...and it wasn't Tim's own skin that was here in the lab. It was the other. He had to do something to get it to him. As long as he was alive, he could have that hope.

...and it would keep Tim from thinking about the fact that his own skin...with a sample cut out of it...was in evidence lockup. He hadn't known for sure until he had seen that the one was not his. If he felt more steady, he would grab the skin where Abby had left it and run...but he wasn't steady enough.

Abby came back in the lab with a bottle of water, a clean garbage can...and a smile. What would she do if he told her what he was? She'd never believe it.

"Here you go, Tim. Have a drink."

Tim took the water and drank it gratefully.

"Abby?"

"Yeah?"

"What would you say if I asked you to run my DNA?"

"I would ask if I was doing a paternity test."

Tim laughed. Abby's ideas were so...not on the same wavelength as his own.

"You wouldn't be."

"Then, why ask for it?"

"Mostly...curiosity."

"Tim, I can't use NCIS resources for your curiosity."

"You were ready to do it for your own curiosity," Tim said...and then, knew he'd been a bit too irritated by that. "Sorry."

"What's going on with you, Tim? You seem so...strange lately. The last few days. What's going on?"

"Nothing really."

"Well, you still look pale. Maybe you should just go home and go to bed."

Tim nodded and got to his feet. As much as he wanted to run down to his skin and grab it (and as conflicted he felt about that instinct), he could see that Abby would likely be sleeping here tonight. She was too interested to go home. He should go home. He really _wasn't_ feeling well...but there was something else. The selkie who was searching for his skin. Tim knew where it was. Could he really bear to get in contact with them again? Twice in a day? He closed his eyes and sighed. This was stretching him too thin.

"Whoa, Tim! You okay?"

He felt Abby's hands on his arms, stabilizing him a bit.

"Yeah. Definitely should have stayed home."

"You going to make it there by yourself?" Abby asked.

Tim opened his eyes and looked at her. Abby looked genuinely concerned about his well-being. She had no idea how hard it was going to be to walk out of the building and deny everything his instincts were telling him to do. ...but if he could focus on the other who could still return, maybe, just maybe, he'd be okay...for a while.

"I'll make it. Don't worry. I look worse than I feel."

Abby smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Go home and sleep, Tim. I don't know if Gibbs will let you survive if you miss another day."

"Yeah...well, I didn't go about it right today."

Abby started pushing him toward the doors.

"Go home, Tim! Just go!"

Tim smiled and sighed. "If only I knew just where that was," he murmured.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. I'm going, Abbs. I'm going."

"Good. I would offer my futon, but I'm going to be using it...and you're sick. I don't want you getting sick on me."

Tim laughed a little and let Abby nudge him in the right direction. When they got to the elevator, he got on...and it took everything he had not to send it down to the evidence garage. Instead, he went home...to his apartment and fed and walked Jethro. It was late, but, even though he was exhausted, he couldn't go to sleep...not with what was going on, not with what he knew. After carefully eating something himself, Tim walked out of his apartment and drove to the sea.

Again.

He walked to the water's edge and strained to feel the stranded selkie, the one searching. He could feel his body shaking. If he didn't make contact soon, he'd have to give up for the night. He'd be lucky to make it back to DC with how he was feeling right now.

Then, there it was. Just a touch. Quickly, Tim passed on what information he could. The black closed in and he fell to the sand.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Gentle taps on his face.

They didn't feel like fins.

What was going on?

Where was he?

He felt...not right.

Tim struggled to lift his eyelids and what he saw made him groan. Tony. This wasn't going to be good.

"McGee, wake up."

Tim opened his eyes and started to sit up.

"McGee...you all right?"

"Fine," he mumbled. "Just...fine."

Then, with help, he got into an upright position...and looked at Tony.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What are _you_?"

"How did you know I was here?"

"I followed you, McGee."

"Why?"

"Because you look like crap and you decided to take a drive to the ocean? Do you know what time it is?"

"You sound like my mother," Tim said and rolled over onto his hands and knees so that he could lever himself up to his feet. He got up all right, but he felt a bit dizzy, and he was chagrined to realize that he needed Tony's help in getting stabilized. ...but he felt more in command of himself when he was standing, less like someone who'd been caught.

Tony looked extremely grim.

"Tim, what is going on?"

"Nothing. I felt sick. I went home. You can ask Abby. She saw me throw up."

"And why are you here if you're sick?"

For a second, Tim almost asked Tony what he meant. He'd said that he went home. ...but then, reality asserted itself.

"I just needed to come here. That's all."

"Why, Tim?" Tony asked, sounding extremely exasperated.

"Just because. I'm going home now. You've seen me sick before, Tony. I don't know why you're so worried."

"This is not normal...not even for you, Probie."

Tim took a deep breath and straightened.

"Just accept that you're not going to get everything about me, Tony. That's the way it is. That'll never change. I'm going home now. If you want to stick around, feel free...but I'm leaving."

Tim started to walk away, but Tony grabbed his arm. Tim turned back.

"Let me go, Tony."

"Not until you give me an explanation."

Tim forced a sarcastic laugh, and let his most derogatory tone come out. He didn't want to. He was genuinely touched that Tony cared, but this was going in a bad direction and, even if it meant giving Tony the cold shoulder in one of his rare moments of sincerity, Tim felt he had no choice.

"Figure it out for yourself, DiNozzo. I don't have to tell you anything."

He pulled his arm from Tony's grasp and trudged through the sand back to his car. He was relieved that Tony didn't press the point any further. He was just too tired to deal with it. As he headed home, he noticed that Tony stayed behind him the whole time. It surprised him, but he was actually grateful to have someone watching over him. He wasn't nearly as steady as he'd like to be. When he got back to his apartment, he parked and got out of his car, feeling lightheaded and unstable.

Tony got out of his car, not saying a word, and helped Tim to his apartment. Tim put the key in the lock and stood facing his door...not Tony who was still standing there.

"Thank you, Tony," he said sincerely.

"Nothing else to say?"

"No. Can't tell you anything," Tim said. That was the truth. He couldn't tell Tony that he was a selkie, that his skin was currently in the evidence lockup at NCIS Headquarters. The very idea was ludicrous.

"'Night, McGee," Tony said and walked away.

"Good night," Tim whispered and went inside.

He felt onto his bed and slept.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Tim might have been sleeping, but Tony wasn't. He was investigating...but not the case at hand. He was convinced that Tim's strange reactions to the case were personal, but he didn't think that Tim had anything to do with the murder. He just couldn't figure out why it was that Tim was so insistent on...lying.

...and with Tim being obviously ill, driving to the beach, and passing out, Tony felt that it was incumbent upon him to figure out what Tim thought he couldn't share...why it was that he was so deeply affected by this case. Why would Tim be acting like this? It didn't make sense based on what Tony thought he knew about Tim.

So, unbeknownst to anyone in the building (he hoped), Tony had called in some favors at work (_before_ he'd found Tim at the beach) and got his hands on Tim's personnel file. There was nothing surprising in it. Everything squared with what Tim had told them about his life over the years. It had made Tony question his concerns...until tonight at the beach. That had been enough to remove whatever scruples Tony had.

He had started doing searches for anything he could find about Tim. He had discovered that there were other Timothy McGees in the country. That made it a little more difficult, but he persevered. He stayed up late into the wee hours, correlating things he found with Tim's file.

It wasn't until about three in the morning that he discovered something amiss...and it was _very_ amiss.

Tony found an online archive of old newspapers from the area Tim had said he grew up in. As he looked through them, he'd been drawn by a headline.

_Son of high-ranking Naval officer in coma following car accident_

Knowing that Tim had been in an accident, he started reading the article, but what he found was very different from what he'd expected. Only the names were the same. Instead of a broken leg, he discovered that Timothy McGee had nearly died and that his doctors didn't anticipate him coming out of the coma.

"But he did," Tony said. "Obviously, he did."

He went forward through the next few days. One small update, stating that Tim's condition had been unchanged, that his family still had hope. A picture accompanied the article. It showed a young man who looked a lot like Tim. ...but he was...

"Eighteen? No way. No, McGee was sixteen when he crashed his car."

He kept skimming through later issues, and then, six months after, there was an article...stating that Timothy McGee's parents had decided to take him off life support...and that he had died.

Timothy McGee had died...at age eighteen...from injuries sustained in a car accident. The funeral was listed, and there was a picture of the whole family...including Sarah.

Tony was shocked. There was no other way to describe what he felt. It was definitely shock. The names of Tim's parents were the names in Tim's file. Sarah...he'd met her. The picture of Timothy McGee looked similar, although not exactly right.

He printed off the relevant articles, but he didn't go over to Tim's apartment right then...although he wanted to. Tim's illness and weakness had been unfeigned. Tony was pretty sure he should let Tim sleep.

...but he didn't feel at all sleepy. He was confused and worried about what he'd discovered. On a whim, he started a new search. This time, he looked for stories of people being seen swimming with seals.

He was stunned to discover that there had been a few around Boston...during the years Tim had supposedly been attending MIT. Not more than two or three, but then, there was one around Norfolk. There was the one a few weeks ago, and then, Tim had confessed to swimming in the ocean...and a seal had approached him on the beach.

Tony now wondered what had happened. Who was Tim really and why had he never told anyone about all this? Had he really gone to MIT? It was like a house of cards falling because one card had been removed. What really got him was that _he_ had been able to find this stuff. It had taken some doing...and yes, it had been through unofficial channels, but how had it happened that the death of Timothy McGee hadn't ever come up?

Tony didn't sleep at all.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim woke up feeling...not a whole lot better actually, but he didn't think he'd throw up and he was fairly certain that, if he stayed home, he would be able to resist the urge to take his skin back.

"Is this what I want?" he asked himself.

The problem was that he couldn't decide. Could he really reject all that he had been, all that cried out for a return and embrace the life he'd built on land? Could he give up the sea? Could he fight that neverending call?

Jethro jumped on the bed and licked at his face. Tim smiled wanly and hugged the dog.

"I don't know what to do, Jethro. I just don't know. I know what I feel...but is that what I _really_ want or is it just an instinct? ...and even if it just an instinct, can I really fight it? I was fine...mostly...when I didn't know where it was, but knowing... I don't know what to do...and there's no one to tell, no one who can help me decide. My family doesn't believe. The selkies think the decision is obvious. None of my friends know...and if they did, they'd just think I was crazy."

Jethro whined at him and Tim swallowed the tightness in his throat. He got up and put on some clothes so he could take Jethro out...and then, maybe he'd try to sleep some more.

Jethro seemed to know that he wasn't feeling his best and didn't linger outside. He did his business, ran around the park a couple of times and then indicated he was ready to return home. Tim was more than happy to oblige.

...but when he got back, Tony was sitting on the steps leading to his building. He looked like he hadn't slept much, and he seemed worried.

"Tony, what's going on?" Tim asked.

"I could ask _you_ that," Tony said...and handed Tim a piece of paper.

Tim knew, as soon as he saw the headline, what Tony meant. He looked at Tony for a moment. What was there to say? He silently handed the paper back and headed inside.

"That's it? You're not even going to say anything?" Tony asked in amazement.

Tim kept walking, knowing Tony would follow him. Once he got into his apartment, he fed Jethro and then sat down on a stool.

"What do you expect me to say, Tony? Do you think I've never seen that headline before? I have."

"I spent hours trying to think of a logical explanation for this, McGee...if that's your name."

"I don't have another one," Tim said. "Timothy McGee is the only name I've ever had."

"You lied!" Tony said.

"About what?" Tim asked. "What did I lie about?"

"Your car accident."

"True. I did. I was never in an accident. Anything else you need to know?"

"Dang it, McGee! What are you hiding? Why? ...and what..."

Tim found that he could actually smile at Tony's inability to express what he was feeling.

"What did you come here for, Tony?"

"Do you know what would happen if someone at NCIS found out about this?"

"Did you come here to threaten me?" Tim asked. "Did you think that if you threatened to tell about this...what little you know...that I'd explain myself? Please, Tony...do it. Threaten me. Threaten to take away a large part of what makes this life worth fighting for. You'll make a decision I can't make much easier...because if I lose what I have here...it's not worth fighting."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll never know, Tony. Never. No one will. I can't tell you, and in reality, you probably don't really want to know. You want this to go away. You don't want to know what it is. You just want it to not exist."

"You're the person who's been swimming with the seals."

"Why do you say that?" Tim asked, arching an eyebrow.

Tony pulled out another piece of paper and held it out. Tim looked at it and shook his head in disbelief.

"You searched for all this? Don't you have anything better to do with your time than pry into my life?"

"You told me to figure it out for myself."

"But you can't, can you," Tim retorted. "You've found stuff that doesn't make sense, but you're expecting _me_ to clarify it for you. Sorry, but I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because...you're not in a position where you could possibly believe it or accept it. You're only human, Tony."

"And you're not?"

"Did I say that?" Tim asked.

The two men stared at each other in silence for a few seconds...and then, Tim could tell that he'd won...at least for the moment.

"I'm still not feeling very well, Tony. I've already reported it and am taking an unpaid day of leave. Would you let Gibbs know?"

"Why are you pushing us away, McGee?" Tony asked. "What did we do to deserve that?"

Tim felt his throat tighten, almost painfully...but he still forced a smile.

"You didn't do anything. I'm doing this because...there's no other option. I know you don't believe that, but it's the truth. Just know this, Tony: If you show that stuff you found to people in authority at NCIS and I lose my job, I'm gone. If that's what you want, by all means, go ahead. I wouldn't want to stay where I'm not wanted. ...but I can't deal with this life without what I have."

"You saying you're going to kill yourself?"

Tim laughed. "No. That would be easier. If I were going to do that, I would have done it years ago. I'm not ready to die...not anymore."

Tim got up, felt a headache form right in the center of his head. He knelt beside Jethro. Actually, Jethro reminded him a lot of the seals. Smart enough and pleasant to be around. Loyal.

"Let me know what you decide to do, Tony. I'd like to know what plans I have to make."

"McGee..."

"Tony, I don't blame you for being upset. I don't blame you for being angry. I don't blame you for being confused. ...but I can't help you."

Tony stayed silent for a long time. Tim waited for him to leave, but he didn't.

"Is there anything else, Tony? Because I'm going back to bed. I have a headache, and I'm not feeling very well."

Another silence.

"If you can't help us...then, is there anything we can help you with?"

Tim turned around in surprise...and then turned back toward the wall before the tears that formed in his eyes could be seen.

"No, Tony. I wish there was, but there's nothing you can do."

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"No. I don't have a fatal disease. I'm not under duress. It's nothing you can understand."

"You seem very sure."

"I am."

"Okay. I'll tell Gibbs you're not coming in today."

"Thanks."

"Bye, McGee."

"Tony?" Tim asked.

"I won't say anything."

"Thanks."

The door closed and Tim sighed. Tony hadn't really made anything easier. If only he could have been angry enough to carry through on his unspoken threat. Then, Tim would have had no choice but to give in to his instinct. No need to try and make a decision. It would have been made for him.

As it was, Tim was in no better situation than he had been before.

...unless...

The germ of an idea began to form in his head. If it didn't work, it would leave him no options. If it did work...maybe he had a chance.

Maybe.

He took a deep breath and walked into his bedroom. He needed more sleep. If he was going to try this, he needed to be at the top of his game.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Gibbs could see something was wrong as soon as Tony got off the elevator. Tony gestured to Ziva and then made a beeline for Gibbs' desk.

Gibbs raised his eyebrows without speaking.

"Not out here, Boss."

Gibbs nodded and led Tony and Ziva to the elevator. He stopped it as soon as he could.

"Something is going on with McGee, Boss."

"What?"

"I don't know, but..." He pulled out a few pieces of paper and handed them to Gibbs.

Ziva looked over Gibbs' shoulder as he squinted at them.

"McGee died?" Ziva asked.

"No. ...or yes. Someone named Timothy McGee died...someone with McGee's family."

"You showed this to McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah. He wasn't surprised that it existed. He didn't even try to deny anything. All he wanted to know is what I was going to do with it."

"And?"

"And this is what I'm doing. Tim as good as admitted that something is going on, but he said that no one can know."

"Is someone trying to–?"

"He said he wasn't dying or under duress...and I think he was telling the truth...but what all this means, I don't know at all."

"Was he really sick?"

"I'd swear to it," Tony said. "Last night, he was pale and nearly passed out. This morning, he still didn't look like himself. He said that he wasn't going to make it in today."

Gibbs nodded.

"What are _we_ going to do about this?" Ziva asked.

"I don't know," Tony said. "None of this is in his official file. I checked."

"You checked his official file? How? When?"

Tony had the grace to look a little ashamed. "I called in a couple of favors. Apparently, no one found this stuff when Tim applied. Officially, it doesn't exist."

"How did _you_ find it then?"

"I used a Google search," Tony said with a half smile.

Ziva laughed briefly.

"McGee said that if he lost his job, there'd be no reason for him to try anymore. He said that he didn't mean that he wanted to kill himself, but that he'd be gone. I don't know what to do, Boss."

"And you're sure he won't talk?"

"Nothing I did convinced him."

"You think it has to do with the case?"

"I don't know. It can't be a coincidence that it started when we found that woman on the beach...but I don't think he killed her."

"No, you're right. Get Abby up on McGee's computer. I want to know how he tracked down that woman before he left yesterday."

"Then, what?" Tony asked.

"Then, you're going to contact McGee's parents and ask them if they know what's going on."

"What if they do and won't tell us?"

Gibbs turned on the elevator. "Then, at least, we'll know that McGee isn't in this completely alone."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim slept for a few hours and then awakened feeling better but worse at the same time. He knew exactly where his skin was. He could get it...but he was planning on _not_ getting it back. ...unless everything went wrong...which he could admit was highly likely. There were so many _if_s he was going to have to fight against. This could work _if_...and the way he was planning, he might ruin his life in his attempt to keep it.

"They'll understand, Jethro. They will...right? Abby will understand why...why I have to do what I'm going to do. The others...if it works...it will be clear. It will..."

He ran his hands through his hair, part of him wondering if he'd ever feel that the short length was normal. He'd tried all sorts of things through the years to keep that feeling right...even going so far as to shave it all off and then let it grow back. It still felt strange to have so little hair on his head. He wasn't sure why this one thing hadn't ever gone away.

"I have to try, Jethro. Even if it fails as badly as I think it could. I still have to try. I can't give up."

Jethro barked at him.

"Thanks."

Tim took a deep breath and started getting ready.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony looked at Ziva who simply raised her eyebrows and shrugged. Then, he picked up the phone and dialed the number in Tim's file for his parents.

"_Hello, this is Leanna McGee."_

"Hello, Mrs. McGee. This is Agent DiNozzo with NCIS. I work with your...son."

"_I know who you are. Tim's mentioned you. Has something happened to him? We haven't ever had any contact with NCIS. Not even when Sarah was accused of murder."_

So much for Tim having taken on the identity without their knowledge. Without knowing it, Leanna had confirmed that Tim had been with this family for quite some time.

"Actually...that's a complicated question."

"_Why? What's going on? Should I get my husband?"_

"If you want...Mrs. McGee, we've been investigating a murder and your son seems somehow connected to the victim, but he refuses to tell us what is going on."

"_My son is not a murderer, Agent DiNozzo,"_ Leanna said coldly. _"He is a unique person, but murder is not part of who he is."_

"We don't think he's a murderer, Mrs. McGee. That's not part of what's going on."

"_Then...what is?"_

"He's been acting strangely since we started investigating, and that led to me looking up some things in his past...and..."

There was a long sigh. _"Justin...they found out,"_ she said.

Another phone clicked on.

"_You found out about our son...our _other_ son,"_ he said heavily.

"Yes, sir," Tony said. "I found the news articles about the accident and his death."

"_And now you know that Tim lied about some of his history. Are you going to fire him? Is that what this is about?"_

"No, actually."

"_Then, what? Why are you calling about this if it isn't to inform us of some kind of disciplinary action or firing?"_

"We were hoping that you could give us some insight into what is making McGee act the way he is."

"_How is he acting?"_ Leanna asked.

"He's withdrawn. He's been taking trips to the sea, swimming with seals. He says that the case has nothing to do with him, but there's clearly something wrong, and it started with this case. I followed him yesterday and saw him stand in the ocean for a few minutes and then pass out. After that, he went home. When I found this stuff out, I went to talk to him, and he admitted something was going on, but he said that he couldn't tell me. He said I wouldn't be able to deal with it...and he said that if he lost his job, he wouldn't have a reason to fight anymore. We're worried about him," Tony said frankly. "We can't help him if he won't let us...and he won't."

"_I can't tell you what's going on with him right now. I wish I could. Tim has been...a unique person since he joined our family. The circumstances really dictated what we did for him. I promise you, though, Agent DiNozzo, that all Tim's achievements are his own. He had the skills. We never faked his abilities, only his identity."_

Tony was surprised that they seemed so much more worried about Tim's employment than what Tony was saying to them.

"And you don't know of anything that might be contributing to his actions right now?"

"_I don't know. Tim was a troubled teenager. He had no identity, no family, nothing. We've never known where he came from, only that he had suffered some terrible trauma...something that he really couldn't explain to us. We took him in, made him a part of our family. He latched onto the name Tim and nothing else seemed to fit; so we let him use the name as his own. Strange, perhaps, but that's just how it had to be. If he's never mentioned any of this to you, it's probably because he seemed to want so desperately to forget whatever it was that happened."_

"You don't seem very worried."

The soft chuckles surprised him.

"_You don't understand, Agent DiNozzo,"_ Leanna said. _"We've worried about Tim from the moment we took him in. We moved to Boston for his first year of MIT just to make sure that he'd be okay. After that, we moved back home...and one day, Tim called and asked me if he loved us because he didn't understand the concept. That was after he'd been with us for a few years. I'm concerned, of course, but...unfortunately, this is just one more thing. If Tim has decided he can't tell you, he won't tell us, either. There are some things he just won't reveal. I think he remembers more about his childhood than he's told us, but he won't reveal it, and so we just let him know that we're there for him and that he can tell us when he's ready."_

"I don't know if we can do that."

"_Please, do try if you want to,"_ Justin said. _"Maybe you can make headway where we can't. It's so dependent on the situation. Tim does have an obsession with the sea, always has. We never wanted to live very far away from it because we were afraid Tim would leave us for the ocean."_

"I never got the sense that he would leave you," Tony said.

"_Maybe he wouldn't now, but back then, it was a lot less certain."_

Tony's mind was boggled by this strange view of a person he had thought he knew quite well. That Tim had suffered through some childhood trauma that robbed him of his identity, that he had been taken in by people who had just lost their own son, that he had been a constant source of worry for his family? Who would believe that of someone who put off such a...such a _normal_ vibe like Tim did?

"_We'll try calling him, but based on what you've told us, Agent DiNozzo, I wouldn't hold out much hope. If he tells us anything, we'll let you know. Thank you for worrying about him."_

"I wish I didn't feel like I needed to."

"_Par for the course for us,"_ Justin said. _"If, when we talk to him, we notice that it's different, we'll try and get out there. What you've said sounds fairly commonplace, but it's always possible that something has changed."_

"Any suggestions?"

"_Tim does things at his own pace and in his own time. You can't force him."_

"Okay. Thanks. Bye."

Tony hung up and looked at Ziva.

"You do not seem at all relieved," she said.

"I'm not. His parents told me that McGee had a lot of problems as a kid, that they adopted him and intentionally covered up the fact that he had kind of just appeared. They said that he's been a constant source of worry for them."

"McGee?"

"Yeah...and they didn't seem at all surprised that he was swimming with seals. It's like McGee has suddenly become a stranger."

"Yes. What do we do?"

"They said we were welcome to try and get him to open up, but they didn't seem to think we'd have much success. I hope we can prove them wrong...because McGee's not right...and no matter what _they've_ seen, we've _never_ seen that in him before."

Ziva nodded. "We will have to do our best. Perhaps we can go to his place tonight?"

"Sure. I just hope it will work. I feel like there's something happening all around us...and we have no clue what it is."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Okay, Jethro. It's time," Tim said. "This is...it might end up so bad. It might... They might never forgive me for what I'm about to do. Is this right?"

Jethro whined at him.

"Maybe I should just give in. Maybe I'm really not supposed to be here. Maybe they are right and I should go back. ...but I have...learned so much here. I have...I've learned to love, and I won't ever get that there. They just don't feel that. It's not that they're bad. I...I was one of them. I was like them, and that life is a good life...but what I have here...it's so very different, and I'm...more like the humans than I am the selkies now...aren't I?"

Tim leaned his head against his door. He'd been standing there for about an hour, trying to get up the courage to leave, to implement his plan. It just terrified him.

"Okay. I'm going. I'm going. I have to do it now, break this impasse. It's too hard to leave it like this anymore." Tim crouched down and petted Jethro one last time. "I can't do this alone."

One more deep breath, and Tim stood and opened the door and committed himself to this new path.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Abby heard the door to her lab open, but she was so involved in trying to figure out what had led Tim to look at these newspapers that she mostly ignored it.

Then, she glanced up and what she saw made her leap to her feet and run out into the lab.

"Tim...what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm sorry, Abby."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Tim knew Abby would see him. That was what he had planned, but he hadn't been prepared for the shock and disbelief in her eyes. It made him falter for a second, but he'd made his decision, and it was too late to change his mind. He held the skin more tightly in his hands.

"I'm sorry, Abby. I really am...but this does _not_ belong to you. It does _not_ belong to NCIS, and it _never_ belonged to that woman who was killed. Never. All she was doing was trying to destroy someone else. I'm giving this back to the one it belongs to...and you can't stop me, Abby."

Abby took a few strides toward him, as if she _was_ going to try. Tim hated himself, but he drew his gun and pointed it at her.

"Please, Abby. This is how it has to be. I hope...that you can...forgive me. Some day."

Abby stopped, shocked and silent. He had never seen her look so betrayed. He felt tears in his eyes. Even if _he_ knew that he'd never have the guts to pull the trigger (and actually, the gun wasn't even loaded...he was worried about how shaky he felt), he was pretty sure Abby was now questioning what she thought she knew about him.

"I'm sorry, Abby. Really."

Then, he hurried out of the lab, knowing that Abby would call for help very soon. He went down to Autopsy, planning on taking the back exit...in the hopes that Ducky and/or Jimmy would see him and wonder.

He walked down the hall...close enough to the Autopsy doors that they opened as he passed by.

"Timothy?"

Tim glanced over at Ducky and then moved on.

"Timothy!"

Tim didn't stop. He still felt that urge to run to the evidence garage, but he was trying to focus on his plan. That would help him keep going.

"Where are you going, Timothy?"

Tim still didn't stop. He heard faster steps behind him. Jimmy. He would have to stop him.

"Hey, McGee, are you feeling–?"

Tim turned around with his gun in his hand.

"Just go back to Autopsy, Jimmy. Please," Tim said. He saw the shock...the same shock in Jimmy's eyes as had been in Abby's, although perhaps not as intense.

"Timothy, what do you think you're doing?"

"Making things right, Ducky...for the one person who can have it back...the one person. That's what I'm doing, and I can't stop."

"Why not?"

"Because...this is my only chance."

"For what?"

Jimmy had stopped in his tracks, and Tim backed up until he reached the door. He opened it and walked out. As soon as the door was closed behind him, he started to run. He had to make sure that he could get off the Navy Yard. If he was stopped at the gate, he'd be in trouble, and the whole thing would be ruined.

That couldn't happen. Not now.

He ran to his car, got inside and started to drive as quickly as he could...safely.

As he drove by the front entrance of NCIS, he saw Tony, Gibbs and Ziva running out of the building. He looked at them and then refocused on what he was doing.

To his relief, the gate hadn't been closed off. He was passed through with no trouble and started on his way. The skin was on the seat beside him.

His phone started to ring and he answered it, knowing within three guesses who it would be.

"McGee."

"_What are you doing, McGee?"_ Gibbs demanded.

"What I have to do."

"_Why do you have to do it? You threatened Abby and Jimmy with a gun. You stole evidence."_

"It's not evidence. It belongs to someone else."

"_This isn't going away, McGee."_

"I know..."

"_What are you expecting?"_

"I can't tell you that."

"_You know that Abby is tracing you."_

Tim managed a weak smile even though he was alone and had never felt less like smiling.

"I know."

"_Is that what you want?"_

"What if I said yes?"

"_Then, I'd ask why you didn't just tell us."_

"I can't. I really can't."

"_McGee...tell us now. How much worse could it be?"_

Tim laughed. "You have no idea. You'd never believe me."

He hung up and figured they'd start following him. He could only hope.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Gibbs looked at Tony and Ziva as he listened to the nothing signaling Tim's disconnection.

"He wants us to follow him."

"Why?" Ziva asked. "Why would he do all this just to have us follow him somewhere?"

"Not somewhere. To the coast," Tony said. "Where else would he be going?"

"With that stuff we found in the house?" Ziva asked. "Why?"

"We'll ask him when we get there."

"So...we're going to do what he wants us to do?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Get Ducky. We might need him."

"What about Abby?"

"No. We'll need her to keep tabs on McGee's location."

"We know where he's going."

"More or less. Let's not lose him, okay?"

While Ziva ran inside to get Ducky, Gibbs called Abby, swiftly dealt with her shock and resentment at being left behind when Tim was clearly off his rocker, and set her to her task. He even gave her permission to call Tim if she wanted to try and talk to him, but she wasn't allowed to berate him. Not while he was driving and possibly losing it. Then, he looked at Tony.

"What do you think he's doing?"

"I don't know, Boss. You're the one who's good at reading people."

"You're the one who's been talking to him the most."

"But I don't get it, Boss. This is not the guy I know."

_Thwack!_

"Yes, it is. Just because you're seeing something about him you didn't know before doesn't mean it's someone different. Stop thinking about it like it's a huge change. Think about it as a part of him. What is he doing? This is McGee."

"I'm not Ducky, either, Boss."

_Thwack!_

"This isn't psychology. This is knowing a person."

"What's with the questions, Boss?" Tony asked. "We're following him! We can ask him."

"Yeah, but how long will that take and what if he doesn't want to talk? He hasn't up until now."

"But he's got a plan, Boss!"

"And how do you know that?"

"Because that's what McGee does! He doesn't leave things to chance. He plans out. It's like what I told Ziva when we thought he'd shot that cop. McGee has rules and regs memorized because that's what he does! Whatever he's doing, it's something he's planned out."

"Okay. If that's the case, why come to NCIS now? Why not wait until everyone had gone?"

"Well, you said he wants us to follow him...but he said that he couldn't tell me what was going on." And then, a lightbulb came on in Tony's head. "...he can't tell us...but he can _show_ us. He made sure he was seen by the people most likely to see him and not be able to stop him."

Gibbs nodded and then looked over as Ziva and Ducky joined him.

"I sent Mr. Palmer to keep Abigail company...as much as that is possible," Ducky said. "What are we going to do, Jethro?"

"Figure out what's going on," Gibbs said.

"He has threatened his coworkers. He apparently stole _evidence_."

"I know. We're going to find out why."

"Very well. Let us lose no more time then."

They hurried to the car and headed off in the direction Tim had gone.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim kept driving. He knew he couldn't go back to the same beach as before. It would look too suspicious. So he'd veered a bit further north than was his usual. It meant that it would take longer, but he didn't care. He just needed to get to the beach...and hopefully make contact once more.

He was banking on the fact that Gibbs never wanted to involve anyone else in problems having to do with his team. That meant that he wouldn't call the police. No BOLO. Just Abby tracing his phone. She'd called him a couple of times, but he felt so guilty about what he'd done that he hadn't answered...only looked at the ID and then set his phone down on the seat again.

What if this all went wrong? He was sure that it could, even now...even though everything seemed to be going right for the moment. The only other call he'd received had been from his parents, and he hadn't answered that one either. It would be hard enough doing this when he had to be so callous to his friends. To the people who had taken him in, raised him, dealt with him as no one else probably would have? No. He couldn't even bear the thought.

The sea was closer now. The colder weather had kept people away from the beaches during the day...and now, it was nighttime...which would also keep them away. This beach was rocky, not much sand. Better for the seals, better for the selkie who needed solitude to accomplish his work.

He pulled to the side of the road and shoved his phone into his pocket so that Abby could still trace him even after he'd left his car. He took the skin in his hands and walked down the beach, away from the road, into the cold water.

He shivered, but that was all right. Cold didn't matter right now. All that mattered was the minuscule amount of energy he could pull from this tenuous contact. Energy he needed to touch another mind that had been so far separated from the sea.

For a while it was quiet...except for the sea flowing in and out. Some wind among the rocks. No one else in the world, and Tim had a moment to get some equilibrium back, to think about what he'd chosen.

"What now, McGee?"

Tim turned at the voice and pulled out his gun.

"No closer, Boss," he said, although he hated pointing a gun at Gibbs...even an empty one.

Gibbs, Tony and Ziva stopped where they were. Ducky took a few steps closer.

"What are you doing, Timothy?"

"What I need to do. Now, that I'm here...and you're here...I can...try."

"Try what?" Ducky asked, patiently.

Tim felt the strain of trying to perpetrate something that felt wrong. He felt the strain of being pulled in two directions, and he felt the shame from the looks he was getting from people he counted as friends.

"Just stay back. If you come closer, you might try to stop me. I know you probably think I'm crazy."

"No, McGee," Gibbs said. "We don't."

"Right...but you don't understand what I'm doing."

"No. That's true."

"Just stay back and let me do this."

"Do what?"

"You'll see. You won't believe if I tell you."

"And yet, Timothy, we're here. If what you say is true, won't we have this proof momentarily?"

"I don't know how long it will take...and I'm not leaving until it happens...but I can't control how long you stay."

"Not even with that gun in your hand?" Ducky asked mildly.

"I don't know if I'm that good a shot when it's at people I care about," Tim said.

Tim turned back to the sea and walked further out into the water, shivering a bit, but that was all right. He had never done this with people watching him. It always drained him. He wasn't sure what would happen.

As much as he could, he put himself back into that other mode. The mode that watched for predators at all times in the sea...and for unwelcome human visitors on land. Constant vigilance...and then, he stretched that awareness out into the sea and along the coast, searching for like minds. He touched some of the selkies who were clearly surprised at the contact. Then, he found the one he'd been looking for. He sent the message that his skin was here...and then, he pulled away and staggered further into the sea, feeling drained.

"Timothy!"

He heard the steps in the water and he turned around.

"No. Stay back."

"I just want to help you," Ducky said, keeping his hands out in the open.

His stance made Tim wince at the fact that it was because of how Tim was treating him.

"I know, but you can't. You just have to stand and wait."

"What if we can't wait as long as you want to?"

"Then...all this will be for nothing," Tim said.

They stood there, at an impasse as the time lengthened. Tim was freezing, but he didn't dare leave the water. He just stood, facing the others, shivering.

After two hours of this, Ducky walked out into the water again. Tim half-heartedly raised the gun again.

"Timothy, come out of the water. This can't be good for you."

"It's all right. You'd be surprised."

"Timothy, what is it that you're waiting for?"

"Not what. Who."

"Who?"

"Yes. I don't know how long it will take him. He's on foot...not in the sea."

"Timothy..."

Tim sighed. What was the point in hiding it? They clearly had doubts about his sanity already. In spite of the promise he'd made to himself years before that he would never talk about this to another human being again, he felt that he had little hope of keeping them there much longer if he didn't start talking.

He lifted the skin he'd taken. "This...isn't fabric," he said.

"What is it, then?" Tony asked from the shore. "Abby couldn't figure it out."

"It's the skin of a selkie. That..._woman _we found dead on the beach stole it from him. Stole it so that he'd be separated from the sea forever. She wanted to cause him pain. The powder in the bottom of that trunk..." Tim swallowed the nausea that arose at the thought. "...that is what is left of another skin of a selkie...one who couldn't bear to be separated from the sea and so died. I'm giving back what was taken."

"There were two skins in that trunk, Timothy."

"I know."

"And you took only one."

"I know."

"Why are we here?" Gibbs asked.

"Because you won't believe it unless you see it. If I had just told you what I needed to do, you wouldn't have listened. Humans don't listen to what strikes them as impossible."

"Humans?" Ziva asked.

"You're saying that other skin is _yours_, Probie?"

"Yes. It is...but I don't want it."

Ducky's eyes raised. "You don't?"

"No...or at least, the part of me that can think doesn't want it. Every instinct I have tells me to take it back and go to the sea...but if I do that, I can't ever return here. I don't want that."

"How long have you..."

Tim smiled. "Don't pretend you believe me. I know you don't. Not yet...but when he comes to get his skin...then, you'll see."

"How long will you stay in the water, Timothy? You'll get hypothermia."

"If I was going to, wouldn't I have it already?"

"I would have thought so."

"I'm cold, but I'm fine."

Gibbs jumped down off a rock and walked over beside Ducky.

"McGee, you don't have to stay out there, and you don't have to threaten us."

"Yes, I do...because you're thinking about this as you would any other crazy person. You're trying to get me to relax enough that you all can take me down and...and 'help' me. That's not the kind of help I need."

"What _do_ you need, then?"

"I've lived on land for so many years...but I've never had a single person I could tell. I told my family, but they didn't believe me. I told my therapist when I first started seeing him. He didn't believe me. So I stopped talking about it and I dealt with it how I could...by pretending that I was as human as the next person was...cut off from the world I was born into. Stuck walking on the land...stuck forever. I thought. It was fine when I had lost hope of ever getting back. Now...now, I _could_ go back, but I don't want to give up my life here." He looked at Ducky, begging him to understand. "I don't want to give up love."

"Love?"

"Selkies...we don't feel emotion for anything but the sea. We observe emotions. We can help people with them, but we don't feel them ourselves...but we _can_. I have...and I can't lose that."

"So you're willing to turn on the people you say you care about to keep that?"

"Yes...because there's no other way. You won't..." Tim stopped talking and turned to the side. A man was just visible in the distance, walking along the shore, his feet immersed in the water. "There he is."

"Timothy...how can you possibly know that?"

"Because I'm a selkie, Ducky. ...and so is he."

He came closer and closer, but when he saw the others, he stopped. Tim ignored them. He held up the skin.

"I have it. Here. They know."

"How do they know?" he asked.

"I told them. They are my friends."

"It is forbidden."

"I know. Please, let them see. They will not tell."

"It is forbidden!"

"I know," Tim repeated. "I know, but I am not going back."

"Why?"

"Because of them. I want to stay...but they do not believe, and I cannot stay if they do not believe. Let them see."

"There are seals out there," Tony said softly.

Tim looked back for a moment and then out where Tony was pointing. Sure enough. His searching had brought more than the one. A number of seals were out in the water, their heads poking out of surf.

"Please," Tim said again. "I know you want to go back. I know you want this. ...but I do not. Please, let me try to keep what I have. Let them see."

The selkie looked at him and then at the others warily.

"If I refuse will you keep my skin?"

"No! No, of course not. It is yours," Tim said and held it out. "Take it. I just ask one thing of you. I beg for it. Please."

There was a moment of total silence. It seemed as though even the ocean was waiting.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony and Ziva climbed down to join Gibbs and Ducky. The way this man was talking, he sounded as crazy as Tim did...two people sharing the same delusion? Could that be possible?

The man walked to Tim and looked at the skin in his hand. Then, he looked once more at the four humans standing on the beach.

"This is worth it for you?" he asked.

"Yes," Tim said.

"Very well."

Then, he took the skin and walked to the shore, away from Tim, toward them. He looked them up and down.

"Humans. I do not understand why he would care for you after what one has done to us...but watch. See and believe that there is a world beyond what you assume you know." His voice was thick with derision and loathing. He shook back his long hair, swung the supposed skin around him...

...and there was no longer a man there. A seal was before them on the beach. He twitched his whiskers at them and looked at them for a long time with his large dark eyes.

Tony let out a startled exclamation and staggered backward. Ziva and Gibbs didn't move, but after Ziva reached out to steady Tony, she didn't take her hand away from his arm. They were all shocked by what they'd seen. Could it be real?

Then, the seal turned and waddled awkwardly into the water. He stopped at Tim and nodded once before swimming smoothly out to join the other seals. All the seals but one disappeared from the surface and swam away. The other came toward Tim. He stopped, stretched his head upward, and a man appeared, a dark gray skin peeling away. He stood tall and proud and looked at Tim. His voice was too low for them to hear, but Tim nodded. He seemed distressed but not afraid.

Then, there was a seal swimming away, not a man standing in the water and Tim was alone. He sank to his knees and dropped his gun into the water. He covered his face in his hands and didn't try to get up again, not even when a wave came in and swamped him.

No one moved for a moment. What they'd just seen was not something any had ever even _considered _as a possibility. Then, Ducky walked over, through the water and knelt beside Tim. He reached down into the water and picked up the gun Tim had dropped and urged Tim to his feet. Together, they slowly returned to the beach. When they reached the dry sand, Tim tripped and fell to the ground, dragging Ducky down with him. He didn't look up. He didn't move. He just sat there.

Ducky righted himself and then, put a hand on Tim's back.

"Timothy?"

Tim said nothing, choosing instead to stare only at the sand.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Timothy, talk to us."

Tim's breathing became audible. He sounded like he was crying.

"Do you know how it feels to be pulled apart? All I wanted was to go after them...but I wanted to stay." Tim picked up the gun from where it had fallen in the sand. He held it out to...anyone. "It's not loaded. You can arrest me if you need to."

"Timothy."

"I couldn't risk that I'd slip on the trigger. So I took out the bullets. I had to have it so people would be worried and come after me. ...but I didn't want to hurt anyone. I just...needed you to see. I'm sorry."

"It's not loaded?" Gibbs asked.

Ducky took the gun from Tim's slack fingers, checked it.

"Empty, Jethro."

Gibbs took the gun and sighed. Tim didn't move, didn't try to do anything to get away from them. He didn't even try to stand up. It was like he'd been defeated by whatever he'd been told...or perhaps it was something else. The silence fell again, except for the tide coming in and going out.

"So...you're a... selkie," Tony said finally. "You can...turn into a seal."

"Yes."

"And...you always have been."

"Yes."

"And...now what?"

"I don't know...can you guys forgive me for what I did to get you here?"

Tim still didn't raise his eyes to see what they'd say. He kept them downward. Ducky looked up at Gibbs and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Gibbs knelt on the other side of Tim.

"You want to stay on land even though you could go back?"

Tim nodded.

"Why?"

"I told you. Love. Nothing else could be enough to keep me here. Nothing. I wasn't sure even that was."

"Does it not pain you to be separated?" Ziva asked quietly.

"Yes. It does. That's why I sometimes go and swim in the ocean, to try and get that feeling back. ...but human life is all about finding happiness in pain. Isn't it?"

"Not necessarily," Ducky said. "Many are able to live without that kind of pain."

"But that's what comes along with caring for people. Worry. Pain. Hurt. I've been happy...but I've always missed the sea...and I always felt kind of alone...because I couldn't tell anyone."

"Now, you have," Tony said.

"Do you believe it?"

"I don't see how I can deny it...even though I want to."

"Did I go too far?" Tim asked. "Did I?"

"Tell me something, first, McGee," Gibbs said. "Who was that woman to you? Tell us everything."

Tim's voice was dull as he spoke. It was flat and empty...with an unnatural cadence they'd never heard before. It was like a person reading a script for the first time, not knowing what the emotion was supposed to be. "She stole my skin. I was young. We do not measure time as...as humans do. I was young. It was my first time hearing and answering. I heard her pain. She called to me and I came. She tricked me and destroyed me. I told her where it was. She took it. I begged her to give it back. I always thought that was what I wanted. I would have died on the beach. I could...not bear the...separation, but the McGees...still feeling the pain of their son dying...they found me and saved me. They loved me. They showed me how to love, what it was. Then...when I saw her dead on the beach, I was glad that she was dead. I still am. She hurt too many...but she had a reason. The selkies took her son back to the sea. He was a selkie himself. He could not have lived as a selkie in this world. Humans would not have let him. So he was taken back to the sea. It was explained to her but she would not accept it. She wanted revenge. ...and she was killed for what she did."

"Whoa, McGee. Who killed her?"

"The selkies. They took her out to sea and drowned her." Still no emotion.

"Okay...uh...we can't put that in a report."

"There will be no evidence leading to anyone else. No fingerprints because they went back to the sea and left her there...dressed in a uniform so that I would know she was dead. I knew it, but I did not know that I would want to stay...here."

Another long silence. Tim had solved their case...and yet, they couldn't say that he had. There was no way it was possible.

"Is it too late to get anything from my life here? If it is...I will beg you to give me my skin and I will also return to the sea...and leave here forever. It is the people...you...who have made me want to stay. Without...I can't do it."

"You've been thrown completely out of whack just by knowing where your...your...skin was," Tony said. "How can you deal with that?"

"By destroying it."

"What?"

"If it is gone...completely. It will help."

"Can you do that?"

"I can...not," Tim admitted. "If I touch it, I will not be able to resist the...pull to return. I asked. He has told me that I can destroy the skin and it will likely lessen my need, my desire."

They were all arrayed around him, and Tim looked completely bereft, crouched in the sand, not making eye contact. This fight to get what he hoped he hadn't lost...

Tony knelt down and put his hands on Tim's shoulders, forcing him upright on his knees, looking into his eyes for the first time.

Tim's eyes were as alien as he'd ever seen them. There was a distance to them that he couldn't explain. He was in another place right now...or rather, _half_ in another place.

"McGee...you're part of the team. You're...our friend. This is...majorly weird, but I don't think you went too far. Boss?"

"This wouldn't be our first cold case," Gibbs said. "But we can't wipe this away. You've done too much for us to pretend. ...and I don't think Abby and Jimmy are going to forget."

Tim looked from Tony to Gibbs and then back down at the sand. Still dejected.

"Why would you do this, McGee?" Ziva asked. "If you were so determined to stay with us...why would you then threaten us?"

"Because...I could...not...think of what else to do. I hated to point the gun at them...even when I knew it was empty. I didn't want to...because I knew they would think it was loaded. All I can do is hope that...that humans can forgive. Can they?"

"You've been with us long enough to know the answer to that," Gibbs said.

"Then...can _you_ forgive _me_? ...knowing what I am, seeing what I did...just to help myself? I was thinking only of how to get what I wanted."

"No, you weren't, Timothy," Ducky said, softly. "That much is obvious."

"How do you know?"

"Because I saw the look on your face when you pointed your gun at Jimmy. I have been watching you here. You feel horrible about what you've done...and I'd wager that you felt that way throughout this day. Am I right?"

"But I did it anyway. I showed how...not human, I am. Can you forgive me?"

"I can," Gibbs said, "but I can't speak for anyone else."

Tim nodded, still hiding his face from them.

"But you'll have to have some kind of disciplinary action for what you did."

Tim took a deep breath and when he spoke again, it was closer to his usual speech...more human. "I can't give back the skin...and I want the other...mine...to go away."

"I understand that. We'll have to think of something, but you'll have to face what you did."

"In prison?" Tim asked, his voice small.

"Not likely."

A deep sigh of relief. "Okay."

"Now...McGee, we can't stay here."

"I know. I'm...afraid to go back now. I just...I thought that...that I would..." Tim shook his head and grabbed a handful of sand. "I didn't think beyond this moment. I didn't think beyond people knowing. Somehow...I just...I supplied something better after you knew. _Can _I go back?"

"You can," Ducky said. "There may be some stumbling blocks, but you can go back."

"McGee?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah?"

"Stop...crouching over like that. You should not hide yourself from us...not after what we have seen."

"I'm...not sure I can... You know. You _really_ know. No one...no _human_ has ever known...except the woman who..."

"We are not her," Ziva said. "You should know that you can trust us."

"I know...but...I'm afraid."

"This is what you wanted, McGee," Tony said, smiling a little. "We know. You've got what you wanted. Enjoy it."

Tim's shoulders hunched for a moment. Then, he took a breath and looked up. It seemed like he'd lost years...and yet, he seemed older as well. His eyes were wide as he looked from person to person. He almost looked like a caged animal. Then, Ducky reached out and gently squeezed Tim's shoulder...and he sniffled and then laughed a little.

"I'm kind of...cold."

"You were standing in the ocean for hours, Timothy. Of course you are."

"Let's get back to DC," Gibbs said. "Tony, you drive McGee's car. Ziva, go with him."

"Back to NCIS?"

"Not tonight. McGee...you stay with me tonight. I'll talk to Vance in the morning."

"I can't go back to NCIS while it's there," Tim said. "I can't deal with it being so close."

"Okay. Here's how it'll work. You're going to be suspended without pay for the next couple of weeks. I'll see what Vance will do about this, and we'll do what we can to...deal with it. For now...let's just go."

Tim nodded meekly. All the energy that had propelled him through his plan was spent. He was rather listless as he trudged through the sand and rocks back to the road.

"I'll tell Abby and Jimmy that I'm sorry," Tim said as they got to the cars. "They'll probably hate me for what I did."

"They might be angry for a while, Timothy, but you know that Abigail rarely has the ability to hold a deep grudge for long, and Jimmy will be more understanding when he knows the circumstances."

"Doesn't excuse what I did."

"No, but it does give a reason. Reasons matter."

"Sometimes, having a reason isn't enough."

Ducky got in the back seat with Tim, leaving Gibbs to drive.

"Do you regret that you were stranded on the land all those years ago?"

"Yes. ...but...no." Tim looked at Ducky. "You don't really understand. If I touched my skin again, I would only want to take it back. I wouldn't resist, and part of me wouldn't even _want_ to resist. ...but...there's another part of me that...that would always regret losing what I have. It's a choice between feeling and not feeling...and the only reason that I'm staying is because I can't forget how emotions feel. If I thought I could forget...I might...go back because...that would remove the feeling that I have of...of dislocation, of being in the wrong place all the time. Sometimes, I wake up and I have had...dreams." Tim smiled wistfully. "Dreams of playing in the sea...and it feels so right."

"What did that other selkie say to you, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"He said that if I made this choice, it was choosing complete isolation. No more contact with the selkies. It would be voluntarily closing off part of myself."

"Is that all he said?"

Tim looked out the window.

"More or less."

"Meaning...it's not."

Tim didn't answer.

"We'll figure something out, Timothy," Ducky said. "It might take a few days, but we'll figure something out."

"Why would you?" Tim asked. "Why would you do this for...for a selkie?"

"We're not doing it for a selkie, McGee," Gibbs said. "We're doing it for you."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony and Ziva didn't say much for the first little while in the car. Finding out that one's coworker is another species is rather mind-boggling...but after a while, the wordless shock turned to a need to discuss.

"McGee...is a selkie," Tony said into the silence.

"Yes," Ziva said quietly.

"He could turn into a seal."

"Yes."

"And for as long as we've known him...he's been a selkie."

"Yes."

"And now..."

"What now?" Ziva asked. "What do we _do_ now?"

"Well, we can't tell anyone...besides Abby and Jimmy. No one else would believe it. They may not anyway."

"But McGee. This was the first time that I could see in him...something...other."

"Yeah. Weird."

"Yes. Do you think that we can be all right with that?"

Tony let out a whoosh of air. "I don't know. Maybe. ...I think so."

"Why?"

"Because...like Gibbs said...this is still McGee. He was always a selkie. We just didn't know it, and I can't really blame him for not telling us. I wouldn't have believed it."

"Nor would I. His plan was not a good one."

"Logically, it worked. ...but I never thought that he could pull a gun on Abby, even an empty one."

"No. I could not believe that of him...but I understand his desperation. He needed something he had never had, and it drove him to an extreme reaction."

"And now, what are we going to do about it? The...the _skin_ he gave back is gone. The one that's still there, he really wants to destroy. How are we going to get _that_ done?"

Ziva was quiet for a few moments.

"If Abby would agree..."

"What?"

"Perhaps she would feel a need to...prevent an animal skin from being used by people. Like the fur protesters. She could say that she wants to destroy it. It is an animal skin. It is not needed for our investigation. Gibbs could convince Vance to let her take it."

"What about McGee?"

Ziva shook her head. "I do not know. I will leave that to Gibbs to decide. He has already suspended McGee and that will look better to Director Vance."

"The world has gone kind of crazy, I think," Tony said. "But the craziest thing of all is that it _was_ crazy the whole time. We just didn't know it."

"That other selkie... He must have been miserable," Ziva said. "Did you see his eyes? He was derisive, yes, but he was...pained. All he wanted was to leave this world behind and never return."

"How long do you think it took for McGee not to feel that way?"

"I do not...think I want to know."

"Yeah."

Tony looked at the lights of Gibbs' car ahead of them.

"Yeah. I don't want to know either."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Tim had fallen asleep on the way to Gibbs' house. Then, after they got him inside, he had fallen asleep again. No real conversation, leaving Ducky and Gibbs to look at each other as Tim lay sleeping on the couch.

"Jethro, what do we do?"

"What I said. I'll talk to Vance tomorrow."

"About what, Jethro?"

"About what McGee did today. No way he won't have heard about some of it."

"And what will you tell him? The only reason I believe Timothy's story is because I saw that seal...that _selkie_. I would not have believed him otherwise. No one else will believe this. Timothy's life story is the stuff of legends! This is not something that anyone else will ever accept as reality. What can you possibly tell Director Vance that will keep Timothy from getting into unavoidable trouble or from being ruined by what he chose to do?"

"McGee's been sick...and..." Gibbs took a breath. "...and it turns out that he had fudged his background a little bit. I'll tell Vance that there were some things that came up that shocked McGee and he wasn't thinking straight. ...and I'll tell him that this isn't something that will ever happen again."

"And you think he'll accept that?"

"If I say it right...he will."

"And you're sure of that."

"As sure as I can be. We're not going to be able to ignore this completely, Ducky. We've got to do something."

"Yes, but..."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"No."

"Okay, then." Gibbs sighed at looked at Tim. He was still pale, but already, he seemed a bit less frantic than he had been.

"I'll stay with him," Ducky said. "He shouldn't wake up alone after the night he's had."

Gibbs nodded. After the night they'd _all_ had, it would be a relief to know that they weren't alone in this insanity.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The next morning, Tony and Ziva, by mutual agreement, arrived very early in order to pave the way for Tim's eventual return. They caught Abby on her arrival and asked her about what she'd be willing to do. Abby said she wasn't ready to talk to Tim, not even when Ziva and Tony told her what had happened, but she did agree to be the voice behind getting a hold of Tim's skin. They intercepted Jimmy on his way in to work and took him aside to explain things. His eyes were wide and he seemed a bit skeptical, but they were pretty sure he was going to accept how things were going. Tim would talk to them later, but this was a beginning.

When Gibbs got there, they told him what they'd planned as far as possibly getting hold of Tim's skin without compromising their case. He agreed with their idea and then mounted the stairs to talk to Vance. He knew he couldn't lie, but neither could he tell the truth of what was going on. Even if, by some miracle, Vance would believe the story, he couldn't pull too many strings without things getting suspicious. It was best just to allow him to make his decision without asking something of him that he probably couldn't give.

In his usual fashion, Gibbs bypassed any announcement of his approach. In this case, it was early enough that Vance's assistant hadn't yet arrived anyway. Perfect.

He strode into the office and smiled as Vance sighed.

"Gibbs..."

"No one was out there to complain about my coming in."

Vance rolled his eyes. "I assume you're here to explain what your agent was doing yesterday?"

"More or less."

"I would think that would be fairly high on your priorities."

"It is."

"And?"

"Neither Abby nor Jimmy want to pursue this."

"I'm sure they don't, but one of my agents pointed a gun at his coworkers."

"It wasn't loaded."

"Immaterial, as you know. The threat was there and intended to be perceived as genuine."

"McGee's been sick."

"Delusional?"

"No."

"Then, it has no bearing."

Gibbs took a breath. He knew that he was treading on uneasy ground here. Based on what he knew, Tim had lied to get hired at NCIS...and his family had apparently been complicit in that.

"Tell me something, Gibbs. Anything if it will help me understand why you're not upset about Agent McGee threatening his coworkers."

"It's the case we've been working."

"What about it?"

"It turns out that woman who was killed had kind of gone crazy after her son was abducted. She claimed he'd been taken out to the sea. McGee...had a troubled childhood. He was adopted and took the place of the son of the McGees who died in a car accident. Apparently, they found McGee on the beach and he said he was alone. He had no identity, no family, and he'd blocked out whatever happened to him. It affected him and he momentarily lost his perspective."

"Is _that_ what you're calling it?" Vance asked. "I can tell just by what you've actually said that this isn't the reason. What are you covering?"

"Nothing."

Vance looked at him carefully in silence for a few seconds.

"And you have no reason to think that Agent McGee will follow this particular track again?"

"None. This will never happen again."

"You seem very certain."

"I am."

"And Ms. Sciuto and Mr. Palmer are truly all right with this?"

"Yes."

"So you expect nothing to be done?"

"No. I've suspended him for his behavior. Ducky is with him today, but he'll be back tomorrow. McGee has learned his lesson and if you want to make a note in his file, he's fine with that."

"And when he comes back?"

"He'll take any demotion you want to give him."

"And if I want to fire him?"

"I don't want that, Director."

"Will Agent McGee accept that?"

"Not easily, no."

"How long is his suspension?"

"Two weeks...unless you want to make it longer."

"Two weeks...but he's on probation when he comes back. Probation for six months. ...and if he has unresolved issues, I expect him to resolve them. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Fine," Vance said, although he didn't seem especially happy about it...probably more because he'd been kept in the dark and was aware of that. "Was there something else?"

"Yes."

"What?" Vance asked, barely stifling a sigh.

"This case."

"What about it?"

"It's going nowhere. The only description we have of anyone who talked to our victim is a tall man with dark hair."

"That's it?"

"Yes...and the lifeguard says that neither of them seemed distressed. In fact, she thought they were both smiling. We have no fingerprints. The house itself where she was living is clean. We'll keep working on it, but it seems unlikely that we're going to find anyone."

"Keep on it for a while. We don't want to give up too soon."

"Okay, but I do have a request to make."

"About what?"

"Well, it's from Abby."

"What is it?" Vance asked.

"It turns out that the material we found in the house is seal skin."

"Seal skin?"

"Yeah."

"Strange."

Gibbs nodded...knowing that Abby's results hadn't been exactly conclusive on that front, but this was another fudging he was doing.

"We've had no replies to any of our searches for family. We'll be donating her clothing to charity...but Abby wants to destroy the seal skin."

"Why?"

"To prevent it from being used by anyone else. She's against the use of fur...and seals are protected. The skin appears to be pretty old, and she wants to give it a proper burial...in this case, she wants to burn it."

"And you're sure that this has nothing to do with our case?"

"The trunk was completely undisturbed. We didn't find the house for a couple of days after finding the body. No fingerprints besides hers. If someone killed her for a reason, it wasn't because of anything in her house."

Vance sat back.

"How determined is she about this?"

"Very. It's Abby."

"Under the circumstances...all right. You keep working on it for the remainder of the week. If you haven't found anything, I'll declare it a cold case, and Ms. Sciuto has leave to dispose of an illegal item...but with full documentation. We don't want to be accused of hiding something."

Gibbs nodded and got up.

"Oh, and Agent Gibbs?"

"Yes?"

"There had better not be any fallout from whatever it is you're still hiding from me. I get what you're doing. So there had better be a good reason for it."

"There is."

Vance stood up, looked Gibbs in the eye, and Gibbs met his gaze unflinchingly.

"All right. No destroying anything until the end of the week. Understand?"

Gibbs nodded and walked out. It was longer than he'd hoped, but still it was better that Vance recognized he wasn't telling him everything. He headed back down to the bullpen to let Tony and Ziva know...and then to talk to Abby.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim took a deep breath and opened his eyes...and then let out his breath rather quickly when he realized that he wasn't in his own bed...and he wasn't even in his apartment.

He sat up and looked around. This looked like Gibbs' house.

"Ah, you've finally awakened, Timothy."

Tim jumped.

"Ducky!"

"Good morning, Timothy."

Tim looked around.

"What am I doing here?"

"Well, up until a few moments ago, I believe you were sleeping," Ducky said with a smile. "You do recall the events of last night, I hope. It would be a terrible waste if you didn't."

Tim furrowed his brow and then he looked around...and found that he felt extremely self-conscious. His eyes dropped to his lap.

"So you _do_ remember."

"Yeah."

"There's no call for hiding your face."

Tim looked up and smiled a little.

"I'm...not used to...people knowing. It's... Don't you think it's strange what I am?"

Ducky smiled. "Of course, I do, but I believe the evidence of my eyes...and I what I saw would confirm what you told us."

"So...what's going to happen now? Gibbs said that...that you'd think of something."

"So far...the decision is to tell Director Vance an abbreviated version of what's happened and then, Abigail is going to claim that she wants to destroy the seal skin in protest of its illegal harvesting."

"What?"

"I believe it was Ziva and Anthony who came up with that idea."

"And she's going along with it?"

"I believe so."

"Is she...mad at me? She should be."

"I don't know that, Timothy. I haven't spoken to her myself."

"So...what do I do now?"

"Nothing for the moment. You're looking better than yesterday."

"I feel better."

"But not back to normal?"

"No. Not back to normal. I still feel like I need to...go back."

"Given the situation, that is likely to be expected."

Tim smiled a little. "You're accepting this pretty easily."

"Oh, no. It's been a struggle, but I've had some time to deal with it."

"What happens now?"

"We do as you have requested and destroy your skin. For now, would you tell me something?"

"What?" Tim asked, a little warily.

"Based on what your family said, they don't believe you."

"They don't."

"So what is the real story of how you came to be with them?"

"After she...stole my skin...I begged her to give it back to me. I even threatened her, but she was smart enough to avoid being alone with me. We were always on the beach."

"How did she get you to come to her?"

"Selkies can be called...a woman cries seven tears into the sea and her pain calls to us. It can be loneliness, physical pain, anything, but we hear and come and do our best to ease her pain. I heard her pain, but I didn't hear her hatred. I came and talked to her. I felt sorry for her...her pain was so deep. And then, she told me to stay with her on the beach, and I fell asleep in the sand. Sometime during the night, she found where I'd stowed my skin and she took it away. I tried to follow her, but I couldn't...and I have to be close to it to feel it. I felt so...destroyed that I sat on the beach for a long time. I don't know how long it was, and Sarah came to me and told me that I looked like her brother who had died. I tried to crawl into the ocean and drown...but I couldn't make it because my...dad saved me. He stopped me from going. ...and then, they accepted me after that. They didn't know who I was. I had told them the story, but they didn't believe me, and after a while, I stopped talking about it. It wasn't until I was in college...at MIT, that I started to feel...more like a human. I...felt love for my family. It was enough to keep me from the sea for a while." Tim stopped and shrugged. "That's...mostly it."

"And will you tell them now?"

"No. I don't want to know if they'd believe now."

Ducky nodded.

"Well, are you ready for breakfast?"

"I could...eat."

"Good. Come along, then."

Tim nodded and got up. He felt lightheaded, but it wasn't nearly so bad as it had been the last couple of days. As he moved to join Ducky, he was surprised by Ducky putting an arm around him.

"Timothy?"

"Yeah?"

"You haven't lost us. In fact, I think we're all flattered by the fact that we were among those who were keeping you in the human world."

Tim smiled. "Funny, huh? ...but it's true."

"Not funny. It's a lovely sentiment."

"Thanks for not letting last night be the end. I know it could have been."

Ducky just nodded and led Tim into the kitchen.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The rest of the week passed achingly slowly for Tim. He tried to tell Gibbs and Ducky that he could go back to his own home, that he'd be fine, but they were strangely resistant to the idea that Tim spend a lot of time by himself. Instead, Ducky took him back and helped him pack some clothes and then move himself and Jethro temporarily over to Gibbs' house. ...just until they'd managed to deal with his skin. Tim found it both heartwarming and slightly amusing. He'd been living as a selkie his entire life and he'd discovered ways of dealing with his periodic longings. Now, when he had the chance to lessen those pangs dramatically, they were keeping close watch on him.

Of course, Tim thought it was also possible that they were trying to make sure that he didn't go off on another crazy journey...and disappear.

Tim knew he had no such intentions, but he was happy that they cared enough to _want_ him around...not just that they were tolerating him. He had given them the option of his disappearance and they had rejected it.

But he knew that he needed to talk to Abby and Jimmy and apologize. With his suspension, he'd kind of been hiding behind the fact that he was supposed to stay away from NCIS, but he promised himself that he would talk to them both _before _they destroyed his skin.

As the time approached, he felt a sense of anticipation, combined with dread. This was an irrevocable step he was taking. Once his skin was gone, that was it. He couldn't change his mind...and his selkie "family" would not accept him back. He was, in essence, rejecting who he was in favor of what he had become. That was not an easy decision, but he had made it, choosing his human family over the herd in which he'd been born and raised. He wasn't sure what kind of an impact this would have on who he was. He knew what he'd been told, but that was all.

Finally, the day arrived, and Tim knew that they'd come through as they always had. He was almost sure that he had no doubts. Almost.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Mr. Palmer, will you be joining us tonight?" Ducky asked.

Jimmy smiled wanly. "I don't know, Doctor. Do you think I should?"

"It's entirely up to you. This situation is strange...to put it mildly."

"Well, there's that...but...it's not just that."

"It's because of what Timothy did?"

"Yeah."

"Again, I don't blame you in the slightest. That is also a hard thing for you...and for Abigail, as well."

"She's going, isn't she."

"Yes, she is."

Jimmy shuffled his feet.

"I do know that Timothy wants to apologize to you for what he did. He knows it was wrong, and he regrets his choice."

Jimmy took a breath, stalling for time. Ducky didn't rush him.

"I...I'll come."

"All right. Would you like to come with me or on your own?"

"On my own."

"Very well. We're converging at Jethro's home before heading out."

"Out where?"

"Somewhere that we can safely dispose of the skin without attention."

Jimmy nodded. "Okay. I'll be there."

"Excellent. I'll see you there."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Abby, since it was supposedly her desire to destroy the seal skin, signed all the forms and detailed the situation. Then, she took the skin and left NCIS. Once she got in her car, she looked at the skin. This belonged to Tim. She had cut a piece out of Tim's skin. Apparently, he hadn't felt it, but still...

...and she had the confirmation of Tony, Ziva, Gibbs _and_ Ducky that this was all true...but still...

...and Tim had pointed a _gun_ at her! No, it hadn't been loaded, but he had threatened her with a gun! He wouldn't have really hurt her, but still...

Abby sighed and started her drive. It wasn't long...not long enough for her to work through her conflicted feelings.

When she pulled up to Gibbs' house, she thought she caught a glimpse of Tim in the window, but she wasn't sure. Remembering Gibbs' instruction, she left the skin in her car and headed inside.

"Abby?"

She turned and saw Tim standing uncertainly in the hall. She tried to see the selkie in him, but she couldn't. He looked like Tim.

"You threatened to shoot me," she said.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Did you think I wouldn't believe you?"

"I knew you wouldn't."

"Why?" Abby asked.

Tim chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few seconds.

"Abby...my _family _has never believed me. They accepted that something happened, something they don't understand...but they never believed, and they've seen me from the beginning. You've only seen me...as a human. You wouldn't have believed. I'm not saying this because there's something lacking in you, Abby. I'm saying it because it's true. No one would believe it could happen. No human _could_ believe."

Abby furrowed her brow. She was seeing here now just how much Tim must have changed himself in order to be what he was expected to be.

"Abby, if you can't forgive me, I understand, but I _am_ sorry for what I did. If I had thought there was _any_ way to tell you, I would have. I really would have...but I couldn't imagine anyone believing just my word. ...am I wrong?"

Abby wanted to say that he was. She wanted to say that she would have believed him, that he was wrong about her, that he should have trusted her...but...

"No," she admitted reluctantly. "I would never have believed you if you just said that you were a selkie. I wouldn't have."

"I _am_ sorry that I used my gun. It was wrong...and it was calculated because I knew it would have an impact. You'd tell them what happened and they'd follow me because they'd be worried. I knew that would be the result. I'm sorry that I used you that way. I really am."

Abby sighed and walked over to Tim...and then, pulled him into a tight hug.

"I can't say that I forgive you yet, Tim, but I will soon."

Tim laughed softly.

"I can wait."

"Good."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Everyone but Jimmy was at Gibbs' house. Tim looked at Ducky a few times, but only received an encouraging smile in reply. He really wanted to apologize to Jimmy. It was important that he get his apologies out before they all left. No one realized that this was so important...but that was because Tim knew he'd kept something from them...something that he'd only share when it was too late, or almost too late.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Tim heard a car. He jumped to his feet before anyone else could move and hurried outside.

Jimmy was just getting out of his car and he stopped when he saw Tim standing on the lawn.

"Hi," Tim said awkwardly.

"Hi," Jimmy said.

"I wanted to apologize. I've _been_ wanting to apologize...almost since I did it."

"Is everyone else here?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we can do it later."

Tim shook his head. "No, Jimmy. It's important to do it now."

Jimmy furrowed his brow. "Why?"

"Just...because...I need to do it now. I'm really sorry that I felt like I had to threaten you in order to get where I needed to go. I know that it was wrong."

"But would you have done anything different?"

Tim smiled a little. "I wish I could say yes...but I can't."

To his surprise, Jimmy smiled in return. "At least you're honest about it."

"You shouldn't have been put through that, though."

"It's...not okay, but...I can at least try to understand why. ...and if I can't yet, maybe it'll make more sense when we do this next part."

"Maybe."

"You know what's going to happen?"

"Not...exactly. I just know that I didn't want to wait to apologize."

The furrow in Jimmy's brow deepened.

"You think something is going to happen?"

"Maybe. No one else has ever done this before," Tim said. "Don't tell anyone, please."

"But...gosh, Tim...what if–?"

Tim shook his head. "This is the only way I can be what I've become. If it won't work, there's really no other option. ...but I don't want them to worry."

"You don't mind if _I_ worry?" Jimmy asked.

Tim shrugged a little. "I didn't really plan on saying anything about it...not to anyone. I just...sorry."

"No, it's okay. This whole thing is really bizarre, you know, Tim."

"To you. To me, it's normal."

"Right. Was there something else?"

"No. Just an apology."

"Okay. I accept your apology."

"Thanks."

Tim walked back inside with Jimmy. There was a moment of silence as everyone looked at each other, realizing what they were about to do...and realizing that this was real, not just a fantasy. Then, Tony was the first to stand up.

"Okay. Let's go. No sense in putting it off any longer," he said.

Ziva jumped up, followed quickly by Abby.

Gibbs also stood up, but Ducky looked at Tim. He walked over.

"Timothy, you shouldn't be sitting around here alone, waiting. If you're not opposed, I'll wait here with you."

"I'm...not opposed."

"Good. You all can do the deed. We'll wait here."

"All right."

Jimmy looked at Tim and raised his eyebrows. Tim just smiled and nodded.

...but then, everyone was standing...but no one was leaving.

Tim finally looked at them all.

"Nothing's going to happen if you keep standing here."

Everyone laughed and started out. Gibbs paused and turned back.

"What haven't you told us, McGee?"

"Nothing that I know for certain."

"There's a reason why you're not saying anything?"

Tim nodded.

"Okay." Gibbs gave Ducky a significant look and then left.

Tim looked at Ducky and smiled awkwardly.

"So...what are we going to do while we're waiting?"

"I don't know, Timothy. Any preferences?"

Tim shook his head. He sat down.

"I just want this to be over."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Somehow, it seemed most appropriate to do this on the beach. Even though it was a longer trip, it was worth it. It took a couple of hours.

When they got there, they built a woodpile to help in burning the skin. Nothing to be left but ashes.

"This is so weird," Tony said.

"Yes. I still feel almost as if it is...not real," Ziva said.

"It's real," Abby said. "At least _this_ is real."

She held the skin in her hands and lifted it up.

"Matches," Gibbs said.

"Oh, they're in the car," Tony said and ran back to the road.

He was back in a few seconds...but Gibbs was looking at Jimmy.

"What?" Jimmy asked.

"What did McGee tell you?"

"Not much," he said. "He was just apologizing."

"And?"

"And...he thought that there might be something going wrong with this."

"Like what?"

Jimmy shook his head, his eyes wide. "I don't know! He didn't say! He just thought that something might happen."

"So...what should we do?" Tony asked.

Gibbs looked at the skin Abby was still holding...and then at everyone else.

"What we planned. What else? Abby?"

Abby nodded and carefully set the skin on the wood pile.

Tony pulled out a match.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim fidgeted anxiously.

"Timothy?" Ducky asked.

"Ducky...I'm...worried."

"About what?"

"When I...talked to...him, he said that...that I might feel something."

"Feel what? You said that you didn't feel a thing when Abigail cut a piece out for testing."

"I didn't...but...Ducky...wouldn't you feel it if someone cut off a limb?"

"Timothy..." Ducky said, almost appalled. "You think it will feel like that?"

"I don't know, Ducky. I really don't. ...but it could. It's a part of me. It's not like some clothes. It's like...an extension of who I am. I'm kind of scared."

"Do you think it will be actually damaging?"

"I don't know."

Tim got up and started to pace and then he stopped. He started to pant.

"Hot..." he gasped. "Hot."

Ducky leapt to his feet. He caught hold of Tim as he staggered and let out an inarticulate groan.

"Timothy..."

"Burning. I'm burning!" he shrieked.

"I'll call them and tell them to stop," Ducky said.

"No...No!" Tim said, falling to the floor, almost dragging Ducky down as well. "Have to...be this way!"

"Timothy, there has to be another way."

"No. Only chance." He screamed again...and then went limp.

Ducky knelt beside Tim and checked his pulse. It was racing, and his breathing was shallow.

"Timothy."

No response.

"Timothy!"

Tim didn't move. He was out.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"It taking a while to burn," Ziva said.

"Do you think this is going to be okay?" Jimmy asked.

"Don't know," Gibbs said softly.

His phone rang.

"Gibbs."

"_Jethro...how much longer?"_

"For what?"

"_For Timothy's skin to burn!"_

"Why?"

"_He felt it...it was as if he was in the fire himself. He's unconscious...but he insisted that it go on. How much longer?"_

"I don't know. Not much longer."

"_Jethro, I'm worried."_

Gibbs looked at the fire.

"Get it hotter," he said. "It needs to burn faster."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"McGee felt it burning."

"Like we were burning him?" Abby asked.

"It's his skin," Jimmy said, really understanding for the first time.

"The sooner this is done, the sooner he'll stop feeling it."

Tony and Ziva started stoking the fire. The flames leapt higher and obscured their view of the skin.

"Is it fast enough?"

"I hope so."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

As soon as the skin was burned to ashes, they all ran back to the cars and hurried back to Gibbs' house, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what they'd see.

Tony was in first and saw Ducky kneeling on the floor beside Tim, wiping at his face with a wet cloth. There were wet towels on much of Tim's body, and a bucket of water beside him.

"What's going on, Ducky?" Tony asked.

"He's not awakened, and his skin is hot to the touch," Ducky said, his face drawn with worry. "He's burning...as if he has a fever. I couldn't get him off the floor by myself."

For a moment, they stared in shock. It was one thing to admit that Tim was a selkie. It was another to see him taken down from a distance...just by having his skin destroyed. Then, Tony knelt down.

"Where should we put him?" he asked.

"Just on the couch," Gibbs said. "No sense in going farther than we have to."

Together, Tony and Gibbs moved Tim's limp body onto the couch. They could feel the temperature of his skin even through his clothes. His breathing was rather loud and irregular.

"What do we do?" Tony asked. "A hospital?"

Ducky shook his head, but Ziva answered him.

"What would we tell them, Tony?" she asked. "That McGee seems to be running a fever because we burned his seal skin on the beach? Even if we did not tell them that, we would have to give some explanation, and we have nothing that we can reveal that would not be a lie."

"Nothing I've done has cooled him down," Ducky said. "I'm worried that we can do nothing for him."

Abby stared at Tim and then she looked at Tony...and then, back at Tim. ...and then at Jimmy who stared back and his eyes opened wide.

"What if we took him to the sea?" Abby asked.

"What?" Tony asked in surprise. "We've been doing all this so that he doesn't _have_ to go back to the sea!"

"But...if it's a...it's like if you're an addict, you can't just cut it off completely. It takes time. We've taken away Tim's skin...really suddenly," Jimmy said. "What if he needs time to adjust to being like he is now?"

Abby nodded. "We wanted to burn it by the sea because it just seemed right. What if...Tim just needs to be _in_ the sea for a while?"

"What if that's the worst thing for him?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, Ducky's trying, but it's not working...and Ducky's really smart!" Abby said. "...and if Tim can't live like this...do we really want him suffering forever? I don't."

Ducky had contributed little to the conversation. His attention had been on Tim...as it had been for the hours in which he had been trying to cool Tim down, hoping that he wouldn't die. Tim's comparison to losing a limb was too vivid for Ducky. Men had died from field amputations, from the strain and the shock. Tim wasn't bleeding, no, but he was burning...as his skin had been, and if the end of the literal burning hadn't cured him...would anything?

"It's his natural environment, isn't it?" Jimmy asked.

"He did say that he felt like he needed to be in the sea sometimes. Maybe this is one of those times. He went and swam and didn't get trapped there," Tony said, nodding slowly.

Ducky looked at Tim and suddenly noticed his eyes were slightly open. His breathing and heart rate hadn't changed.

"Timothy?" he whispered.

As quiet as that had been, everyone was instantly silent. The only reason they didn't swarm over as they all wanted to was because Gibbs held them back. Ducky took Tim's hand and put his other hand on Tim's forehead, wincing at the heat of it.

"Have you heard the suggestions?" Ducky asked, wanting to make it as easy as possible for him to answer.

Tim squeezed his hand weakly.

"Do you agree with them?"

Tim's mouth moved but the sound was so soft that Ducky had to lean close to him to hear.

"To the sea..."

Ducky looked at Tim.

"Are you sure?"

Another squeeze.

"Very well." Ducky looked at Gibbs. "He says he wants to go to the sea."

Gibbs nodded.

"Okay. Let's get him there."

Carefully, they got Tim up and into the back of one of the cars. Then, they headed back the way they'd come.

Back to the sea.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim roused about halfway to their destination.

"Getting...closer now," he whispered and started to sit up.

Ducky felt his forehead and looked at Gibbs, shaking his head. Tim was still burning up.

"How much further?" Tim asked, his head lolling about.

"Not long now, Timothy. Are you sure this is what you need?"

Tim nodded and his eyes closed again.

"We have no choice but to trust him."

"Yeah," Gibbs said.

What else could they do?

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The closer they got to the sea, the more alert Tim seemed to become. He still was...running a fever, for lack of any better description, but he was conscious and urging them to go faster. When they stopped the car at the beach, Tim opened the car door before either Ducky or Gibbs could get to him.

Tony and Ziva were the first to reach Tim after he collapsed beside the car.

"McGee, slow down! The sea isn't going anywhere," Tony said.

He and Ziva lifted Tim to his feet.

"Too hot...burning...water..." Tim gasped out, trying to walk to his former home.

"Gibbs?" Ziva asked, holding Tim back for a moment.

"Go."

She nodded and helped Tony guide Tim to the water. ...not that Tim needed any guidance. He knew where he wanted to go. It was just a matter of getting there but he did need help in that regard.

The moment his feet touched the water, he slid from Tony and Ziva's grasp, down into the sea, crawling forward, barely keeping his head above the water. A wave broke over him, leaving him coughing and choking on the salty water.

"Tim, come on!" Tony said, wading out after him. "The water's not going to vanish."

He lifted Tim up out of the water.

"No...leave me," Tim said. He was still gasping, but Tony noticed that his skin was already much cooler than it had been.

"You need to keep your head out of the water. I don't care what you are. Even seals need to breathe."

Tim just shook his head and tried to go out further.

"No way, Probie. Sitting in the cold water is fine, but you're staying where we can keep an eye on you."

"You are in no state to be swimming," Ziva added. "Stay with us, McGee."

There were more splashes as Abby joined them.

"Is he better?" she asked.

"Somewhat," Tony said. "He's still nuts."

...but there was only a little concern attached to that statement. Just having Tim responding, not burning, not seeming to be in pain made it easier to tolerate what strangeness remained.

"He said that it made sense to him...just not to us," Jimmy said. "How long are you staying out there?"

Tim seemed beyond responding. In fact, his eyes were closed again, and he was leaning against Ziva, looking almost relaxed as the waves lapped around him. He had stopped trying to go further. He was just sitting where he was. They started to tag-team sitting with Tim in the water. One pair would stay with him while the other waited on the shore.

After a while, Tony and Ziva were freezing, and Tim still seemed totally content.

"McGee?"

No response.

Tony shook Tim a little bit.

"Hey, Probie. Wake up."

Tim's eyelids raised slightly.

"McGee, you ready to let us get out of the water?"

"Do I have to?" he asked, a slight smile on his face.

Tony grinned. This was way too much like a kid wanting to stay in the bath to play a little longer.

"Yes, you have to," Tony said. "We're getting out now."

Tim didn't resist, but he was still rather limp. Tony gestured and Jimmy came over to help drag their friend out of the water. When they got to the dry sand, Tim looked at them all.

"Thanks," he whispered...and then fell asleep.

Tony let out a disbelieving chuckle.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said. "He tells us he's burning, sits in the ocean for an hour and then goes to sleep?"

"It _is_ rather anticlimactic," Ziva agreed.

"I prefer that to him feeling like he's on fire," Abby said. She knelt beside Tim and felt his skin. "He's not hot."

"Is he freezing?" Jimmy asked. "Because I am."

"No. He feels normal."

"Lucky him. Should we go back?"

Ducky and Gibbs had left once during the time that Tim had been in the ocean to get some supplies from a town nearby. They rejoined the group, passing out blankets and some snacks.

"I think we should wait for a while," Ducky said. "We don't know that this won't happen again. Let's see how things fall out."

"Well, if that's the case, maybe we should share body heat," Tony said. "Ziva?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"If I am cold, I will go back to the car and turn on the heater," Ziva said with a glare. "Right now, I am simply tired."

With that, she lay on the sand near Tim and curled up under her blanket.

"Shucks," Tony said with a smile. "Maybe we could build a fire in the pit back there. How about we move the festivities a little further from the water?"

The more serious suggestion was accepted and they moved Tim, who didn't stir at all, to the fire pit. Whoever had used it last had left some unburned wood, and they used that to get a fire started. It wasn't huge, but it gave off enough heat to take the chill out of the air.

Even though he didn't seem at all distressed by the temperature, Abby put a blanket over Tim as well. Ducky took up a guard position of sorts over Tim, taking note of his pulse and his respiration, watching for any sign of distress. The others, tired out from the stress of the day, lay down and slept.

Gibbs just sat and watched. They weren't too far away from where they'd burned Tim's skin, and in their haste to get back to him, they hadn't properly scattered the ashes or anything beyond dousing it. He didn't like the idea of any evidence of their adventure being left for someone else to find. So...before dawn, when even Ducky had given in to his exhaustion and slept, Gibbs got to his feet and trudged to the ashes of the other fire.

He knelt down and put his hand over the remnants. No heat left at all. He wondered if it would have felt hot still if he had checked it right when they got to the beach. Unfortunately, he hadn't thought of it, and he'd never know.

He picked up a few of the ashes and looked at them. No different from any other. You'd never know what had transpired here.

Suddenly, he sensed someone behind him. He jumped to his feet and whirled around.

There was a man standing there, watching him with something akin to amusement. He was tall and had an aura of pride about him that would draw people's attention...and yet, he was also strangely nondescript. His clothing was drab and gray. His hair was dark, as were his eyes.

"I did not think he would do it, although I should have realized," he said.

Then, it dawned on Gibbs that he was seeing the same selkie who had spoken to Tim before.

...and he was likely looking at the man who had killed Karie Martinson.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Haven't you done enough?"

The man, the selkie, smiled.

"I am here to speak with you...if you would consent to it."

"About what?"

"About him," he said, pointing to the ashes.

"Tim."

"He does not have a name to us. I know of whom I speak...as do you. What need is there for more?"

"I don't get you."

"Would you like to try?"

Gibbs looked at him for a long moment.

"Okay. Talk."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The selkie sat on the sand with a strangely-awkward plop. He was built more to possess a kind of thoughtless grace, not clumsiness. He seemed to notice Gibbs' assessment.

"I am not accustomed to the land. I spend most of my time in the sea. It takes time to adjust to this body," he said.

Gibbs nodded.

"What would you like to ask me?"

"You said you should have realized that Tim would go through with this. Why?"

"He is not common, not even for a selkie."

"What makes him so different?"

"Not different. Just not common."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference between a rock born of the fires on the bottom of the sea and one from the burning in the sky. Both come from the same source. Fire. Both are rocks. One is not so common as the other."

"And that doesn't make them different?"

"Perhaps I do not quite understand the word you use. When I have seen humans talk about differences, it makes them hold the other which is different separate. He is not different. He is a part, but he is not common among us."

"Different just means not the same."

"Ah. Then, he is not the same."

"Why not?"

"Who can say for certain? But his history is...different." The selkie smiled.

"What is his history?"

"He was not born in the sea as most selkies are. He was born on the land."

"What?"

"She who bore him knew that the man she lay with was a selkie. She knew the old stories and believed them. She did not, as so many of your kind do, call us imagination. She knew that we were true, and in her loneliness called to us. One came and lay with her. She bore a male. In the first months of his life, she saw that he was growing a seal skin. She knew that he would be a selkie. She took him to the sea and gave him to us, saying that it was the best for him."

"Didn't she want to keep him?"

"Perhaps. She knew what was best, and only hoped that one day she might see him again."

"Did she?"

The selkie shrugged. "I do not remember where she was, nor what she looked like. Most of you humans look much of a sort. Males and females. Light or dark skin, larger groups that do not change much. Do you not think the same of seals?"

Gibbs nodded.

"I do not remember her place, but I remember her. The selkie do not forget. Her reaction was the right one. This other bore a male who would be a selkie, and we were forced to come and take the selkie child to the sea. We told her why it had to be, but she would not accept."

"And you killed her."

"Yes. Would you not have done the same were she trying to destroy your people?"

"We have courts."

"We do not," the selkie said. "And what of your human courts? Do you think they would believe or care about the hurt given to seals? No, be honest, human. You know that the only way we could have stopped her was with her death. That we have done. It was not done in malice...as _her_ actions were. We acted to save all of us...to stop the pain she willingly inflicted upon those who had done nothing to her."

"Without malice? You drowned her."

"Of course. How else would we have done it?" he asked, furrowing his brow. "Would you have us use a harpoon as some who hunt seals do? Or perhaps a rope or a net? What could we have done? It is foolishness that you speak, and nothing more. You know that it must be as it was."

"And Tim?"

"He has made his decision. It is not something that can be changed."

"He felt the skin burning."

The selkie nodded. "It is a part of him. Of course he would feel its destruction."

"Did he know that? Did you?"

"I told him of the danger, but his choice is not one I have seen before. Others have had their skins destroyed. They died."

"What?"

"The loss of one's skin is almost unbearable. Those who do bear it are changed, but to have it destroyed is another pain in addition to the unbearable pain. They die. We regret their loss."

"Why didn't Tim die?"

"Because he has conquered his pain...and he is different. His life began on land. He has more of a connection to the land than others. His looks were always different."

"He had to come back here because he was burning. Will he have to do that often?"

"It is not likely. But he is a selkie. The sea is his home."

"Without a skin. He can't be in the sea like a selkie."

The selkie shook his head and stood, his motion much smoother than when he had seated himself a few minutes before.

"A selkie is a selkie. Are you no longer human because you have lost your leg or your arm? No. Losing a part does not change the whole. He will always be a selkie because that is what he is. I do not say this with pride. It is simple truth. You cannot change what he is into what you wish him to be."

"Didn't you do that by bringing him to the sea?"

"You think that he would have been permitted to live his life as he wished had others seen what he was? You think that a child with a seal skin would not have been taken and examined? We live in separation from humans because humans are unable to accept others as simply different. They are _different_."

"I saw the look on that selkie's face. He wasn't so accepting of humans, either."

"True enough. We are not immune from that weakness, but we know of humans, and we do not try to control or imprison you. I cannot trust you to do the same; so we must live in isolation, taking care to hide ourselves and our true nature from the humans who live close to us."

The two men looked at each other. Each from a different world, looking into an alien way of thinking, an alien way of life.

"What happened to the child you took from Karie Martinson?"

The selkie looked blank. No names.

"The woman you killed."

"Oh. He has grown. He is healthy."

"Does he know that you killed his mother?"

Again, a blank look.

"The woman. She was his mother."

"Oh...yes, I have heard that word. It means more than I would think it would. He is aware, and he had no wish to see her. If she had been accepting, it could have been managed to make him available to her to see...but her attitude was dangerous. Deadly, as we discovered."

"And yet, Tim's mother...you don't even remember her."

"She did not ask to see him."

"Didn't she? Sounds like she wanted nothing more than to see him again."

"If she had asked, we would have done so. She acted honorably."

"And Tim would want to know who his mother was who gave him up for his safety."

"Why? He was raised by us and then by the humans who took him in."

"I don't understand how you can be aware of human emotions and yet not feel them."

"What benefit have they been to you? What benefit were they to that woman? They led to death. We are devoted to the sea. It is our life, our home, our death. Nothing is more important."

"But Tim feels emotions."

"As he always has to some degree, although we did not encourage nor explain them to him. I told you he was different."

"He felt them as a selkie?"

"Yes. He has some of humans in him. His...mother...was a human woman. His father was a selkie. It is not guaranteed that he would be a selkie, but he was. Still, he felt some shadow of emotions, and that is what allowed him to live without his skin. Others have, but not for so long as he has."

"You feel no emotions but you care for each other."

"As we must. None are neglected. All are nurtured and as many as can survive. Our pups grow and thrive. They are taught. We have lived in spite of the encroaching of humans."

"And you think this is better?"

The selkie cocked his head to the side.

"Why must one be better than the other? Why can we not both live as we will? You...and he want the emotions you both feel. I see no need for them. Why must I be wrong and you right?"

Gibbs smiled a little. "Too used to comparing, I guess."

"If we must compare, I will say that my way of life is superior," the selkie said, sounding almost grave.

It actually took Gibbs a few seconds to catch the slight twinkle in his eye.

"I didn't think you would come back here."

The extra voice surprised Gibbs and he turned around to see Tim standing there. He looked a bit pale, not quite back to his old self, but he was standing on his own two feet, didn't seem overly distressed at standing so near the ashes of his skin. He was looking only at the selkie.

"It was not recommended."

"Not forbidden?" Tim asked.

"No. Not as yet."

"Why not?"

"Because you are a selkie, and those who are here know it. The secret has been known."

"Why did you come?" Tim asked.

Gibbs sensed that he was not really needed here at the moment, but he made no move to leave. Neither man seemed to care that he was present.

"To see what resulted from your decision."

"And?"

"And it is good that you have survived what has killed others."

Tim smiled a little. The way he stood was different from how he had almost ever. There was a confidence to him that had been missing before.

"And now? Will I see you again?"

"It is not likely."

Tim nodded. He hesitated for a moment and then looked at Gibbs...and back at the selkie.

"This will not mean anything to you, but it will to me. Will you permit it?"

"Yes."

Tim hesitated once more and then stepped forward and surprised Gibbs and the selkie both by hugging him.

"Thank you," he said softly.

"For what?" the selkie asked.

"I couldn't explain it in words. Just know that I am grateful."

The selkie looked at Gibbs once and then back at Tim. "There are, perhaps, some things that you may wish to know. Come with me. We will talk before I return."

Tim nodded and the two of them walked off together. Gibbs watched them until they disappeared around the rocks and then turned his attention to the ashes. He began to spread them out, letting the clumps fall apart as the logs crumbled to nothing more than ashes themselves. As he got rid of the evidence of their nocturnal adventures, Gibbs thought about how strange everything had been...and he wondered if, had Tim been a full selkie, he would have been able to survive...or if he would have died like, apparently, others had before him.

He was glad he didn't have to know.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"I have a...a human mother?" Tim asked in shock.

The two were sitting on a rock beside the sea.

"Yes. The man seemed to feel that this would matter to you. It does?"

"Yes...yes, it does. Do you know where she is?"

"North is where she _was_. Where she is now, I cannot say. She was very young, but she had lost much and wished for something to ease her loneliness."

"And she didn't mind giving me up?"

"He also asked this. I do not know. She seemed to regret it, but she knew what was best for you."

"I don't know how I'd find her."

"Nor do I. I only share this so that you know it."

"Thank you for telling me."

"You are welcome."

Tim paused. "Could I be related to the family that took me in? I looked like their son."

"I do not know. I did not recognize them when I saw them."

Tim sighed. It would have been a nice easy answer to his question...but when was life ever that simple?

"What now?"

"You will live on the land, and I will go back to the sea."

"If I swim in the ocean...will I see the seals?"

"I could not say. It depends on how they choose to migrate."

The selkie stood...and smiled.

"You never know what the seals will choose."

Tim smiled back and then watched...still with a bit of longing, albeit much muted, as the selkie pulled on his skin and flopped gracelessly into the water.

He had lost the chance of ever doing that himself again, but he thought that it might be a fair trade...one he could never really explain...not even to his human companions, but inside himself, he felt that he had touched something he would never have been permitted to touch had he remained in the sea.


	17. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Tony ran across the beach in what could almost be termed a panic.

"Boss! McGee's gone! He..."

"I'm right here, Tony," Tim said quietly, coming into view. ...alone.

Gibbs looked at him...and again, there was an edge of sadness to him, but also something different.

Different.

"What is it, McGee?" he asked.

"The unexpected, Boss," Tim said...and then his eyes were drawn to the ashes. "That's...where you...burned it?"

"Yeah."

Tim nodded and turned away. He looked at Tony and then down the beach where the others were coming to join them.

"You feeling better, McGee?" Tony asked.

"Much better. Thanks."

"So...you going to start burning up again?"

Tim smiled. "Nope. I only have one skin now."

"So what are you going to do?"

Tim took a breath and looked hesitantly at the ocean and then back at the land.

"Well...I'm...still on suspension. I guess...I'll try to...find something to fill my time."

Abby ran over and hurtled into Tim, nearly knocking him down.

"Tim, it's so good to see you upright and awake and...and not burning!"

Tim hugged her back.

"I'm glad, too."

Ziva and Jimmy both hugged Tim as well...but more gently than Abby. When Ducky reached them, Tim smiled.

"Thanks for being there, Ducky."

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

Tim shook his head.

"No. You did all you could...and more than you had to. I haven't made it easy."

Ducky hugged Tim quickly.

"Perhaps not, but I think it's been worth it."

Tim smiled, but Gibbs could see that he'd been a bit shocked by what he'd been told by the selkie. It would probably take some time to process everything. For the time being, however, he was relieved to see that Tim was as close to "normal" as he probably would ever be.

...and Tim's smile was enough to tell him that Tim hadn't lost anything that made him who he had been before.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_One month later..._

Tim got out of his car and walked to the beach. It was actually his first time on the beach since the destruction of his skin. He felt a bit of a desire to go, and it was the weekend. So he had taken the time to drive out.

No swimming this time.

Instead, Tim was sitting on the sand. He wasn't sure what he was here for...if he was waiting for something or someone. He just wanted to be here on the beach.

The waves rolled in and brought with them a single seal.

In a moment, there was a man beside him.

"I thought you would not be allowed to come back to this place again," Tim said quietly. He didn't look away from the water. Neither did the selkie.

"The seals came this way."

Tim smiled.

"I didn't know that selkies could lie."

"All lying requires is imagination. We have that."

"Why am _I_ here?"

"For the same reason I am."

"Which is?"

"To be here."

Tim laughed a little.

"I have thought about what you said and what the man said."

"About what?"

"About your history."

"In what respect?"

"I have thought that if it is important for you to know the woman who bore you, you might want to know the selkie as well."

"I would," Tim said, turning toward him. "Who is it?"

The selkie smiled. "It was I."

"You," Tim repeated in surprise. "You're my father?"

"Yes."

"But you never said."

"None ever say. We are all raised by the herd. It makes no difference...to us. But it means something to you."

"Yes, it does. Is that because I'm part human?"

"I do not know. None of the others who came from the land have expressed interest."

"Why am I different?"

"You lived on the land...and you also came from the land. That makes you different."

"Does that bother you?"

"Why should it?"

"I'm your son...and your son is different."

"You are a selkie, and you have not shamed us. You have not endangered our existence. Why should anything else matter?"

"Do you think I'm a fool?"

"I do not understand why you chose to give up the sea when you could have returned, but I acknowledge that you have experienced what I have not."

"I know you don't understand. I don't mind."

"That is because you are a selkie."

Tim smiled.

"Thank you...father."

"You are welcome."

The selkie rose to his feet and went back into the water, flopping away until the water was deep enough. Tim watched him go and smiled to himself as the seal vanished beneath the surface. It was like he'd gained another family. He didn't think he'd ever be able to tease out the details of who and what he'd become...but he figured that he had found a life that was as complex as he himself was...and that fit.

He got to his feet and headed back to his car. As he walked, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hey...Mom. It's Tim. No, nothing is wrong. I just wanted to say that I love you."

FINIS!


End file.
